


Perfect // 1D AU

by captainsunlinson



Series: Made In The A.M. [1]
Category: Larry Stylinson - Fandom, One Direction (Band), Ziam Mayne - Fandom
Genre: Band, Bank Robbery, Coffee, Crimes & Criminals, Dating, English, F/M, Family, Hospital, Humor, Lupus, M/M, Money, New York, Perfect, Siblings, friends - Freeform, larrystylinson, sick, stylinson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 11:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 25,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17385683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainsunlinson/pseuds/captainsunlinson
Summary: (Book One)Five men are recruited by a businessman to rob a bank.Louis' your expert.Niall's your safe cracker.Liam's the muscle.Zayn's the hacker.Harry's the getaway driver.And Simon is the mastermind behind it all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Theft: A One Direction Fanfiction](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/448427) by TheLarryParasite. 



~ I might never be your knight in shining armor,

I might never be the one you take home to mother ~

 

 

His stint as a model for Adidas showed now. In the shirt he was wearing. His shoes. But the jean jacket with fur that he wore was not from a major brand. It was the only article of clothing that he had from before he came into a large amount of money just a little under two years ago. And it still fit like a glove. Even if it was a jacket.

He had spent a lot of time in New York, although not recently, and that showed as he strained against the crowds all moving away from Wall Street in the after-work craze. He was headed to a tall building - he still wasn't sure how many stories it was, and the interior never failed to amaze him every time that he went inside it. It was Simon's building, Simon's company. Louis still didn't know the name of it, mostly because it didn't matter to him.

"I'm here for Simon." He said, bypassing the secretary on the ground floor, as well as security as he headed straight for the elevator taking him to the near top. Eighteenth floor. He checked his reflection in the shiny interior of the elevator. Hair had been thrashed about by the wind, but he swooshed it back. He ended up taking off the jacket to seem a bit more professional, because he knew what this meeting was about. Louis wasn't particularly excited about that either.

"Louis Tomlinson. Here for Simon." He told the secretary on Simon's floor. She nodded, and motioned for him to head right on into his office.

Louis walked over to the door confidently, swung it open, and took a seat inside. Simon was working on his computer, and looked business-esque. "Sorry to call you here on a Saturday."

"I'm sorry that you're working on a Saturday." Louis said, leaning forward and clasping his hands.

"How's your family?" Simon asked, continuing to work and shuffle papers.

"Do you really care?" Louis lazily flicked his eyes up to Simon's.

Simon sighed loudly. "Just wondering. We didn't get to talk much last time you were in town. Your family has enough money, though?"

"Yeah. There's still plenty from the first job, and the odd ones that I do. The Adidas modeling helped too. But I'm guessing that you've called me here though to give me more of it." Louis straightened his legs out and watched Simon sign out of his computer.

He started gathering papers and putting them into his briefcase. "Well, I'm not going to just give it to you. You have to go get it."

"A robbery then?" Louis looked up at the ceiling and yawned. "Getaway driver again?"

"I'm still gathering a team." The man said, finally standing. His height was imposing, and Louis pulled his legs back towards himself and crossed his ankles. "But yes. A robbery. And I don't usually reuse team members if I can avoid it, but with your training, you're going to be a natural fit for the job. All I need to know is if you're in or not."

"I'm most definitely in." Louis smiled at his lap. "But this is it. I'll have enough money after this job, and I need to get a real job in society. This job, and I'm out. Done."

"Is it because of Eleanor?" He asked with his back turned to the young adult.

Louis didn't bother asking how he knew about Eleanor. "Yes. She's pregnant. Baby girl. Due in April. And before you ask, yes it is mine, and no I'm not in love with her."

"Not your type?" Simon pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Louis took the one that was offered to him.

"We don't get along the best. I also don't love her." Louis leaned forward to let Simon light the cigarette.

"Would you ever consider swinging the other way? Or both ways?"

"Why are we talking about this again?" Louis took a drag and let the smoke fill the air above his head. "I love who I love, Simon. The world would be a better place if everyone followed that logic."

Simon nodded slowly, agreeing with the boy's logic. "Okay. Last job, and you're done. We'll cut ties after this. No matter what. And you know that I'm a man of my word. Just invite me to her graduation or something."

"Done." Louis said, thinking about his daughter graduating from high school. She didn't have a name yet, let alone a personality, or a plan for life. Louis got stuck in his head thinking about all of that stuff, and Simon pulled him out of his chair by the back of his shirt.

"Try to make friends this time, alright? I've been scouting some prospects, and you'll like them, okay? They're good people."

"As good of people as you can be in the crime world." Louis said pompously. Simon smiled.

A couple minutes later, Louis denied Simon's offer to drop him off at his apartment - he'd rather walk. Louis put his jacket back on when he was out of sight, and he kissed his knuckles. He knew that robbing another bank meant putting his life on the line, putting his life on the line for a team, and the team doing the same for him. Louis didn't like his old team. And they sure didn't like him. 

Louis wished that he had someone to talk to about all of it - but he was a criminal. What did he expect?


	2. Chapter 2

~ And I might never be the one who brings you flowers,

But I can be the one, be the one tonight~

 

 

Zayn swallowed the spit in his mouth as he walked up the steps of the crowded coffee house. He was still reeling from the events of the night before, and he was certain that he wasn't going to be able to spot the man who had bailed him out from jail last night.

But he was there. Sitting in the middle of the room, with another young adult Zayn's age. Messy hair, wifebeater tank top covered with a thrift store jacket. Tons of sexy tattoos. He was Zayn's type.

"Hello, Zayn. Have a seat." Simon said when Zayn approached the table, and Zayn sat, taking the coffee that Simon offered him. "Oh. Zayn, Liam. Liam, Zayn. And I'm Simon Cowell."

Zayn shook Liam's hand, and he watched Liam glance at the tattoo on his forearm. "Into comic books? Wicked." Zayn smiled softly, and turned his attention back to the warm cup.

"I'm sure that both of you are confused." Simon said, sipping his coffee. Zayn itched for a smoke, but he desired answers more. "I bailed both of you out of jail last night. Liam, for robbing a convenience store. Zayn, for graffiti." Zayn looked down at the bitter coffee, but he couldn't make his arms reach for the sugar.

Liam noticed that Zayn seemed nervous, and he felt that magnified in himself. He had no way to pay back Simon, and he was sure that there was some sort of payment that Simon wanted. "In return, I would like you to join my team."

"Done." Liam said quickly. Anything that would help him get out of that situation. He was always quick to jump on the bandwagon.

"The work that you'll be doing...you could die. You'll be a wanted criminal after it." Simon's face was serious, but Zayn couldn't take him seriously with him wearing a tight black shirt and jeans, when he looked like he belonged in a suit.

"What is it, robbing a bank or something?" Zayn joked.

"Yes." Simon answered frankly.

Zayn and Liam's jaws dropped, but Liam's turned into a smile quickly. "That does not change my mind. This just makes it cooler."

"I need the skills that you guys possess. They'll be valuable assets to the team. And if you want to join, come to this location on Saturday at one o'clock. The rest of the team will be there. And if you complete the job, you will have been of great help to me, and you'll be scott free in my book."

"Oh my gosh. That would be utterly amazing!" Liam said, covering his mouth his hands. It was so cute that Zayn bit his cheek to keep from smiling.

"How do you feel about this, Zayn?"

Zayn closed his eyes, and he listened to the bustle of the room. Be a wanted criminal for the rest of his life? "Is there any other way to repay you?"

"This would be the quickest way. Also, you'll get money out of this venture. And friendship." Zayn quietly responded with an 'ew' to the friendship bit, and Liam laughed. "Why don't you think about it?" Simon patted Zayn's back, handing the boys each one business card with the date, time, and place of the meeting. Zayn adjusted the glasses on his face, taking the card.

"Thank you so much! See you Saturday!" Liam ran out of the coffee shop quickly, and Simon stayed with Zayn then, and he stayed with him as Zayn waited for his Uber back to his apartment.

"I hope that you do it." Simon said. "I can't find anyone else with your hacking skills, Malik. And if you just want to come to the meeting to see what it'll be like, I'll let you do that. You can talk to Louis, who's been through this before with me. You have options here, kid."

"Except for the option not to do this." He sighed. "I'll call this number, okay? When I make my decision." Simon nodded as Zayn got into the Uber. As soon as everything was squared away, Zayn fixed his hair, and wiggled his toes to get the warmth back into them.

He certainly didn't think that he would be in this predicament now. He thought that he would have to worry about hiring a lawyer and getting his mom to come all the way to New York to be at the trial, when she had never left Virginia in her life. Zayn had never gone back to Virginia once he left, on the other hand. He just knew that he could never again be the squeaky-clean kid that he was when he left for MIT.

MIT really changed his life. He wondered if this was another chapter in his life opening. Was he supposed to go for it? Chase the devilish Liam? Rob a bank?

One thing was for certain. He most definitely needed to sleep on it.


	3. Chapter 3

~ When I first saw you,

From across the room ~

 

 

Louis sat with his feet up on the table as he waited for everyone else to get there. Simon was preparing a PowerPoint presentation or something on the computer, and Louis was angry at how prepared he was. Louis, honestly, was just not excited to meet this team in any capacity. He grew even more annoyed when the first person that walked in had bright red hair, and was carrying five black coffees, one iced coffee, and a variety of donuts from Louis' favorite donut shop.

"Niall, why?" Simon asked, looking up.

"I want them to like me." Niall said, in a kind of aggressive tone. "Hi." He said to Louis, extending his hand. "I'm Niall."

"Louis." Louis replied in a guarded tone. He grabbed a coffee, and then opened the donuts, grabbing at least four and slapping them on the table. Simon looked disgusted.

"Umm, don't you think the others would want some?"

Louis gave Niall a look, and Niall grabbed his own donut. Zayn walked in then, and grabbed a coffee before sitting across from Niall. "Hi. I'm Niall." Niall reached over the table to shake Zayn's hand, and Zayn glanced at Louis chowing down on the donuts.

"Louis." He replied in between chewing.

"Louis Tomlinson, make friends." Simon yelled at him, and Louis nearly choked on his donut, but made an effort to appear more approachable.

"Where are the others?" Niall asked. Simon shrugged, and Niall slumped in his chair, discouraged by how everything was turning out.

"Why red?" Zayn finally asked.

"I already did all the other colors." Niall said in response.

"Sounds legit." Zayn said, and then Liam walked in. Zayn sat up a little straighter, and Liam sat right next to Zayn, picking up a donut.

"I love these donuts."

"I know." Louis said, finishing his second one. Liam smiled at Louis. Louis smiled back. Zayn felt jealous. Niall wanted Liam to grab his coffee. Simon was angry at his glitching computer. Then Harry walked in.

"I'm not late, am I?" He said in a husky voice. Louis turned around to see Harry as he passed through the room to sit next to Niall. He grabbed the coffee, but not a donut, and Niall was obviously unhappy with the unbalance of coffee to donuts.

"No." Louis told him, and Harry gave an impersonal smile to him. Simon then commanded the attention of the room. "What bank?" Louis asked.

"It's in Vegas." Simon said, rolling his eyes slightly at Louis' attitude.

"Why are we robbing it?" Niall asked then, furrowing his brows together.

"That's the only question that I will not answer. Stay out of my business."

"Aren't you supposed to say stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours?" Zayn asked, sipping his coffee, desperately needing sugar.

"He's not gonna stay out of our business." Louis said then, leaning back in his chair and finishing off his third donut.

"Let's introduce ourselves." Simon said. "I'm Simon Cowell. The rest of you say your name and age. Harry." He gestured to Harry.

"Harry Styles. 21."

"Niall Horan. 22."

"Louis Tomlinson. 23."

"Zayn Malik. 22."

"Liam Payne. 22."

"This is your team." Simon said, spreading his arms out. Louis scoffed. Simon glared at him. "Our bank is inside a hotel casino in Las Vegas. We'll rob it on December 17th. Questions?" They all raised their hands. "Louis."

"What are our roles?"

"Zayn, you're going to disable the hotel's security. Niall's cracking the safe. Liam's our muscle. Harry's our getaway driver. Louis, you're more muscle and money packing. I can go more into depth, but we can talk more about that later."

"Why does he get to be the getaway driver?" Louis asked, pointing to Harry.

"He has more experience than you. Moving on." Niall and Liam snickered, and Louis shrugged. "And all of you will start taking some of the classes that I offer to help with your physical prowess. Zayn, you don't need to take any, just make sure that your typing fingers are ready." Zayn smiled. "This will be a cumbersome task, and there is a building downtown that will be your headquarters. If you feel like, you can stay there for the duration of your planning. Niall, that will probably be the most helpful to you, I don't know about the others." No one spoke up.

After that, Simon dived into some of the heavier details, handing out notepads. Zayn and Liam made the most use of them, and after a while, the lot of them were joking and laughing. All except Harry. He was the most guarded, which surprised Louis, since he expected himself to be the most hesitant to the group. "We should get dinner. I'll buy." Louis said.

"Free food. Can't refuse." Niall said, smiling. Zayn and Liam shrugged and said they'd come. "What about you, Harry?"

"Can't, sorry. I have to...ummm...go visit my sister." He said, and then abruptly ran out. Niall noticed that he didn't even drink any of his coffee during the four hours that they had been there. Rude.

"Shall we?" Louis asked, stepping outside. He smiled and gestured the others forward, promising with his smile that things weren't as bad as they seemed.


	4. Chapter 4

~I could tell that you were curious (oh yeah)~

 

It was two in the morning when Liam wound up in the dialysis lab - at least four hours after Zayn had dropped him off at his dingy apartment, that looked like a trap house, but was really just Liam's home. Liam felt sick as a dog - most likely due to the excess alcohol that he drank last night.

The doctor got him hooked up to a machine, and Liam started scrolling on his phone to keep his mind occupied while he was there, since he already knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep. "Hello." A girl said, smiling at him from across the room. She was older than him, Liam knew that. But she was pretty.

"Hi." Liam replied, turning back to his phone and running his hand through his hair.

"I'm Gemma." She said, sitting criss-cross applesauce. She had her hair in giraffe buns, and looked completely at ease hooked up to the machine at two in the morning.

"Liam." He replied, and they smiled at each other brightly.

\---

Louis was pissed that there were no donuts this time that they were there, but he was still too hungover to care. They didn't stay out too late last night, but Louis had taken them to McDonald's and then to a club to drink. He kind of liked these guys so far.

When Harry walked in, Louis took the time to analyze his spectacular outfit. There was nothing the man couldn't make look good. He was wearing a red and white gingham suit top, and the pants matched that. He looked like he was going to meet someone famous like that. "Oi." Louis called to him. Harry turned. "What is that getup?"

"It's called fashion, Louis." Niall said, walking in with an iced coffee for himself and one donut for Louis.

"I've never seen no fashion like that." Louis said, being kind of judgmental and rude. "Oh, and Simon, Liam's going to be late. Not feeling well. Drank too much last night." Niall laughed, and Louis cracked a small smile.

Harry sat down, not bothering to defend himself in the choice of his fashion. Or the fact that he had just begun to notice how British Louis sounded. Harry was British too, and he wanted to ask Louis where he was from.

Zayn walked in, sitting next to Harry, looking bug-eyed from lack of sleep. "Did you sleep?" Niall asked.

"No. I had stuff to do. Coffee to drink. Cigarettes to smoke. Organizations to hack. You know. Life never stops." Zayn also made his outfit seem flawless - Louis felt dismal in his black sweats, black sweater, and sunglasses. He was never one for fashion. Just the flashy cars. The only fashion he liked was stripes. Made him feel like a zebra. And suspenders - he loved suspenders.

"Let's start." Simon said. "We need to discuss things that could create a complication to our mission. Now I will leave this up to Niall to discuss, but he can't be out in public places too long, or he'll be arrested."

"Wanted criminal. Nice." Louis said, high-fiving the red-haired boy.

The room got colder. "Zayn, make sure that you're careful online." Zayn nodded, knowing that information already.

"Louis, you know your stuff. Harry, no street racing, please."

"I have a question, actually." Harry asked. "Am I going to have to leave the country or something after this? Never come back? Find a new identity? Because I cannot leave my sister."

"If we do the job right, no one will know that it was you." Simon smiled, in a way to the others that looked demonic, but to Louis was just Simon's cruel mind at work. Who knew what he wanted with that money. "Now for supplies. We'll start setting up a diagram of the safe, and Niall, once you crack it, we'll need to get all of your supplies together. Zayn, once you successfully can hack the hotel's systems, I'll need to know how much tech you'll need. The smallest amount possible to do it. Louis and Niall, we'll need to get you harnesses for the air shafts. And we'll need guns."

"Do we plan on killing people?" Harry asked, an unnerved look on his face.

"I hope not." Louis declared. "I'm not comfortable killing someone."

"It's just in case." Simon said, immediately moving onto the next subject. "Niall, you'll need to take some exercise classes to slim down, as well as climbing ones. Louis, I want you in climbing and defensive driving, as you are backup. Harry, I want you in all of my driving classes, as well as defense, etc. Zayn, you're good, and Liam will be in exercise classes to bulk up and gun defense, etc. Any questions?"

"How hard will the climb be?" Louis asks.

"With duffle bags full of cash, I'm going to say very hard. Especially when you've got an adrenaline rush and you're terrified for your life. This is why trust in this team is important - do some trust-building exercises or something. Get to know each other, guys."

Harry rolled his eyes, and Louis knew that getting him on board would be the hardest.


	5. Chapter 5

~Girl I hope you're sure,

What you're looking for,

Cause I'm not good at making promises~

 

 

"Hi, mum." Niall said quietly into the pay phone. He was just glad that he was able to find one near the gym that Simon owned.

"Ni-"

"Don't say my name." He said. "I just want to you know that I'm okay. I'm safe."

"You have to turn yourself in." Was the first thing that she said.

"I'm not going to do that, mum." He said, and tears started coming out of his eyes. "I love you. How's dad? And Greg? Theo?"

"They're doing great." She said. "I miss you." Now his mom was crying, and Niall was crying too. And the sky was weeping with them.

"I miss you too, mum. I'll come home soon, okay? I promise."

"Where are you?" She asked.

"I can't tell you that." He said, shaking his head. "But, I'll send money soon. Before Christmas. I'll send gifts. I've got to go, but I love you."

"I love you too, my baby boy." Niall hung up the pay phone and stifled another sob, moving to let someone else use the pay phone. He let the rain wash away his tears before walking back towards the gym.

\---

"I'll be back later, okay?" Louis said that morning to Harry, who was walking into the gym. Simon had told Louis to pick up Harry and take him there for his classes. "I'll pick you up around lunchtime."

"Where are you going? Don't you have classes too?" Harry asked, looking ever so stylish in his boots, jeans, and brown jacket. He ran a hand through his hair, and Louis felt his stomach alight with butterflies.

"I scheduled mine to be at night. I function better at night. I have a couple morning ones though. Hurry, there's cars coming." Harry dashed through the street to get to the gym, and Louis waved goodbye as he pulled away, feeling like a soccer mom, and feeling odd about the way that he acted towards Harry. It was perplexing.

\---

Zayn's heart beat out of his chest as he stalked Liam. He had binoculars, and could see, from his vantage point, Liam working out in the gym. Zayn hadn't resorted to these measures since he was in college, and man were those desperate times.

He knew that he was good at it though. No one had seen him come up here to spy on Liam and do so hacking at the same time. He'd just seen Louis drop off Harry, and Niall had gone to the gym with Liam a couple hours earlier.

Zayn knew that he didn't have long to sit up there - it was going to rain soon, but he figured that watching Liam work out would be worth it. He was glad that the gym had windows by the treadmills and the weights, both of which Liam had to hit heavily. Zayn also figured that he'd take the time to stalk Liam on social media. Well, the whole gang really.

Liam had a twitter. His bio read: dogs, tattoos, singing in the shower. His location was: hiding from it all.

Louis also had a twitter. Bio: yes, I did model for adidas. love ya mum. miss my girls and Ernest. Location: buying Hamilton tickets

Zayn couldn't find anything on Niall - he couldn't remember his last name. Harry had an Instagram. Bio: treat people with kindness. 🌈proud to be bisexual🌈. g is my world💚. Zayn had noticed the looks that Louis gave Harry - he'd be delighted to know that he liked guys, but disappointed to know that he already had someone. Harry hadn't brought them up yet. He'd only brought his sister up.

Zayn felt like he had done enough stalking for the time being, now knowing more about each of the boys. He already knew that Liam lived in a crappy apartment, and was a total lightweight. Louis had five sisters and one brother, and Niall had admitted to having one brother and a nephew. The only thing he couldn't figure out was everyone's backgrounds. He wanted to know how they had all gotten caught in Simon's web.

And sweet, innocent, church boy Niall was a wanted criminal? Why?


	6. Chapter 6

~ But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms,

And if you like having secret little rendezvous ~

 

 

On Tuesday, Louis went over to their base extra early. He found Niall sleeping in one of the bedrooms, and Liam was asleep on the couch. He found a large book, and he dropped it on the ground to wake him up. Niall was in the doorway instantaneously, and Liam slept on. Two different people.

"What'd you do that for?" He asked, panting. Niall was only wearing small black boxers, and his hair was bleached. Yesterday it had been red. Louis was thoroughly perplexed.

"What color are you going for now?" He asked.

"I'm going to do platinum blonde for the edges." He said, rubbing his eyes. "It's seven o'clock. What do you want?"

"LIAM!" Louis yelled, and still the boy didn't wake up. A minute later, he rolled over, exposing a bare arm, which was full of tattoos and track marks. "He's a druggie?"

Niall also had a look of shock of his face. "It makes sense though. It's why he looks like a rat. Lives in a bad part of town, according to Zayn. I think he's clean, though."

"Up for debate." Louis said, bending down to look at Liam's arm. "Yeah, they look pretty old. It was heroin, though. That's a deep hole." Liam moved his arm then, and slapped Louis in the face. Louis fell on his butt, and Liam and Niall laughed.

"What do you want?" Liam asked in a sleepy voice.

"I'm taking you guys shopping before our meeting today. Because Liam, you dress like a deadbeat, and I'm tired of seeing Niall wearing the same pair of shoes every day. I'm buying."

Niall and Liam didn't refuse the offer. They seemed to already know how stubborn Louis was.

\---

"Louis, these are amazing!" Niall said, looking down at the shoes Louis had just bought him. Louis just smiled from behind his shades and drank his own iced coffee. And yes, he had made Niall buy him a donut. Liam was across the mall, trying on clothes, and Louis and Niall were walking back there.

"Let's buy a cheesecake." Louis said, looking up at the shop.

"I've never seen a store in the mall that sells cheesecake."

"I've never either. Also, I love cheesecake. We'll bring it to the meeting so that Zayn and Harry can have some."

"Harry can't come to the meeting." Niall said. "He texted me."

"You have Harry's number?" Louis asked, slightly jealous.

"Yeah. We kind of bonded yesterday at the gym. He's a cool guy." Niall went back to his phone, texting and scrolling through social media sites.

"Oh." Louis said, sauntering up to the line to buy his cheesecake. Niall watches him, promptly naming him flamboyant in his book. Harry could certainly be filed under that label by the way he dresses. Niall decided in that moment that he shipped them. They would be a cute couple.

"I'm gonna go find Liam, before he wonders after us." Niall said; Louis waved him off. Walking through the crowd, Niall felt invisible and visible at the same time - he went in waves. They all know who I am, he thought. They can't know who you are, he told himself.

"Hey." Liam said to Niall, looking at himself in a jacket in the mirror. He had one bag with him, which had a pair of pants in it and that was it. "I'm not going to put Louis in debt. I'm a good kid."

"So says your track marks." Niall said, and Liam glared at him.

"11 months clean." Liam shot back, albeit sweetly. "I'm gonna buy this jacket."

"Louis is buying a cheesecake." Niall told Liam - who did not look even the slightest bit surprised.

"Louis can do whatever he wants. He's robbed a bank. He's unstoppable."

Niall put his palm on his face and squeezed. "I don't like cheesecake."

"I swear..." Liam chuckled to himself.

\---

"Stop being a crybaby." Gemma said, eating another cup of pudding.

"I think I'm dying." Harry said, not joking at all. Gemma looked at his IV, which was full of what Harry thought was pain meds, but was actually saline.

Gemma kept working on her laptop, sitting criss-cross applesauce in the doctor's swivel chair. She was a journalist for a local paper, which they allowed her to do from her permanent residence - the hospital. While she did that, Harry made faces through the open curtain at a kid who was across the hall.

Harry loved kids. This one was around five or six, and giggled whenever Harry did anything remotely funny. God, Harry loved kids. "What's going on in your life?" Gemma asked, distracting him.

Harry tuned back into the conversation him and his beautiful sister were having. "I'm going to Vegas in a couple weeks."

"Christmas is in a couple weeks." Gemma furrowed her eyebrows at her younger brother. "We're supposed to go see mum."

"I'll fly you out early, and then I'll be home in time for Christmas." He said. "Me and my friends are going."

Gemma raised a skeptical older sister eyebrow. "Hmm. I want to meet these friends."

"Geez, Gem. They're not bad people, I swear. Nothing like the crowd I used to get messed up in." Harry realized that they actually were like that crowd - all criminals. They were actually worse than the other crowds. But, Harry would like to think that they had better character than those fools.

"I still want to meet them." Gemma told him. "I want to make sure that you're not going downhill again." Harry facepalmed. "I worry about you," Gemma added. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"You can't do anything. You live in a hospital because of this dumb disease." Gemma was hurt, but got over his jab quickly.

"I love you!" She yelled. "I love you, Harry Styles!"

"Gem, stop." Harry told her.

"Say you love me back and I'll stop. I love you! I love you!"

"Fine, I love you too, you weirdo."


	7. Chapter 7

~If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do,

Then baby, I'm perfect,

Baby, I'm perfect for you~

 

 

"Louis, give it back." Liam told the young child trapped in an adult's body. Louis had taken a soccer ball from a group of kids, and was currently offering the lot of them thirty bucks. "This is a very bad thing to do."

"We're going to rob a bank soon, Liam. Give it a rest." Zayn yelled from underneath the canopy that Harry was still putting up around him. Niall was watching Louis and Liam interact with the children. He was carrying a basket full of food for their lunch, and a case of Gatorade.

"Are you really going to rob a bank?" One of the ten year olds asked.

"Where else am I going to get the money to pay for my Pokémon collection?" Louis asked, handing the kids a fifty dollar bill instead. "That's the most I'm giving you, you heathens. Go on, get." The kids ran off, and Louis successfully had a soccer ball. "Who's playing footie with me?"

"What's footie?" Liam asked.

"Soccer, you absolute buffoon." Harry scoffed.

"There's food, and then I'll eat. I mean, play."

"I don't like the outdoors, per se." Zayn said, when Louis sat down and shoved him out from under the safety of the canopy. Zayn found a new spot, and Niall started pulling out the food that Harry had made them. It was some pasta, some salad, and some chocolate chip cookies.

"Cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies -"

"Stop." Harry pinned Niall's hands to the ground, while Louis opened the rest of the containers and brought out the papers plates. Niall struggled, and Harry rolled his sleeves up, smiling while trying to deal with Niall. A moment later, everyone started eating, and Harry let Niall go once the cookies were tucked away.

"Why did the mushroom go to the party?" Louis asked, breaking the silence of everyone inhaling food. "Because he was a fun guy."

Zayn howled.

Everyone else laughed lightly, but Zayn was absolutely dying, rolling on the grass even though he was allergic to it, laughing at the dumb joke. Louis didn't laugh or smile, just watched Zayn and ate his salad.

Harry stayed pretty quiet while the rest of them swapped jokes and stories, and then Niall and Zayn were both looking at the schematics to the safe. "Come play with me. Liam? Harry?"

"Fine." Harry said.

"I'm going to eat these cookies. Maybe take a nap under the sun." Liam said. "Give me a couple minutes, then I'll play." Louis beckoned Harry over to an open patch of grass.

The two of them started kicking the ball back and forth, and Louis, a minute later, broke the silence. "What's on your arm?"

Harry looked at his tattoos. "I mean, there's a lot of them here, do you want to hear about them all?"

"I'm talking about your track marks, you idiot." Louis said to him. "On the inside of your arm." Harry hurriedly pulled his sleeves down, and didn't say anything. "I don't care, I just want to make sure that you're not using right now. It'll interfere with the job. One of the last small jobs I worked on, my partner did heroin, and overslept the job. I did it alone, killed it, and Simon most likely had him killed. " Louis ran his hand through his hair and kicked the ball back.

"I've never done drugs in my life. Never even a cigarette." Harry said. "I've just been in the hospital a lot throughout this year."

"Are you okay? Are you sick?" Louis was even more worried about the curly-haired lad now.

Harry smiled. "Don't worry about it. Liam!" He yelled all of a sudden. "Share the cookies!" Louis furrowed his brows, and kicked the ball way off course. Harry glared at him, and ran after it, but he didn't know that Louis did it on purpose. Louis did most things on purpose.

"Hey, can we go to the store after this?" Zayn asked, seeming very introverted in the moment.

Louis, the one with the car, replied. "Yeah, why?"

"Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I want to make you guys dinner." He said.

"I'll help!" Niall said, leaning on Zayn's shoulder, looking like a cute puppy with his new hair. Harry returned with the ball, pretending to kick Liam in the stomach.

"Harry, Liam, and I are going upstate tomorrow. Right, Liam?" Louis addressed the half-asleep person asleep on the grass in the sun.

"Yeah." Liam yawned. "We're gonna meet the Russian mafia."

"I wanna go." Niall pouted.

"Simon has strict instructions." Louis said, looking at the blonde boy. "Next time, kid."

"I'm so ready to go back to the house." Zayn said.

"We just got here." Harry laughed, grabbing himself a cookie.

Zayn scoffed. "Exactly, Harold."


	8. Chapter 8

~And if you like midnight driving with the windows down,

And if you like going places we can't even pronounce,

If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about~

 

 

It was a quiet ride up, with Harry sleeping in the back, and Liam giving directions towards the end of the drive. "I called them. They know that I'm coming." He said, as they pulled up to the agreed-upon location. Harry was just waking up, and trying to fix his hair in the camera from his phone.

"What exactly are we walking into here?" Louis asked Liam, who started opening the door.

"I got this, okay. Don't freak out. This is my territory." Louis shared a look with Harry in the rearview mirror. Liam got out of the car, motioning them out.

"I'm worried about what Liam did in the past." Louis said. Harry thought he worried too much. Both of them got out of the car, and followed Liam inside the building.

"Are you wearing shoes that make you look taller?" Harry asked the smaller adult.

Louis cleared his throat. "No."

"Liar." Harry laughed, and Louis glared at him. "We'll settle this later."

Liam was inside already, chatting with a small group of people. He looked happy and carefree with these people, despite the fact that they were a part of the mafia. And they were Russian. "These are my friends. Louis and Harry."

The two of them shook hands with the group, and Louis felt odd about his real name being used. He usually went by Jimmy, as his fake name. He used that name for the Adidas photoshoot, and for his online persona. (Mostly just for writing poems on Wattpad, although his username there was captainsunlinson, because let's be honest, Louis knew that he was the actual sun.)

"Where do you want to sit?" Harry asked Louis, looking at the empty table.

"Next to you." Louis whispered back to him.

Soon, they were all seated, and it was clear that Liam was going to be the more vocal one out of the group. "We need weapons from a reliable source for a job." He said.

"We thought you were done with the crime world." One of the men said, obviously a little irked. "Going to be a police officer."

"The crime world isn't done with me yet, I'm afraid. I do this job, and my rap sheet disappears."

"Hey, that's a good deal." Harry said to Liam. "I'm not getting that deal."

"Hush." Louis told Harry.

"This wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be." The leader addressed Liam. "Of course, we'll do it for you."

"No, we won't." His right hand man said. "I recognize you, ya little frog." He said, pointing at Harry. Harry was taken aback. "You beat me in a race, and I lost five thousand bucks. I want a rematch."

Louis looked at Harry. Liam looked at Harry. Harry swallowed hard. They certainly didn't have time to have a race, and make it back in time for Zayn and Niall's lovely dinner. "I-i don't race anymore." Harry stammered.

"You give him a rematch, and if you win, I'll give you guys the weapons." The boss said. Louis looked around the sketchy room, looking for an easy escape.

"I'll do it, then." Harry said, all too quickly. "But only if Louis is in the car with me."

\---

"You got your helmet on?" Harry asked, not wearing one himself. Louis didn't understand why he had to.

"Yes, but -"

"Buckle up."

"Why?" Louis asked.

"Because there's a possibility that we could crash and you could die." Harry said, tense. His large hands, covered in rings, wrapped around the steering wheel.

"Well, so could you!" Louis reached over Harry, pulling the seatbelt across his body. Harry pushed the smaller adult back in the passenger seat.

"I don't do seatbelts. And I welcome dying. But, you have a baby girl on the way, so you can't be going around doing death-defying stunts." Louis didn't know what to say. Harry was so different from the quiet and bashful person he had seen in the past week. He didn't know whether he was supposed to be terrified or even more in love with him.

In the other car, was the right hand man, Alex, and his passenger, Liam. They were talking and laughing with each other, whereas Harry looked like he was going to drive six feet straight into the ground. Straight into his grave. "Knock, knock." Harry finally gritted out, as someone came out with two flags.

"What?" Louis asked.

"Knock, knock!" Harry yelled.

"Alright, who's there?"

"A cow."

"A cow, who?"

"No, a cow goes moo."

And they were off.

All that tension from maybe three seconds ago was gone. A giant smile lit up the British man's face, and it was contagious. The windows were down, a cold breeze blew in, and they whipped through the streets towards their destination.

And Louis no longer questioned why he wasn't the getaway driver. Harry was phenomenal behind the wheel.

There was no question as to why Harry won the first race against Alex, and there was no doubt that he would win this one as well.

And he did.

\---

"That-that was amazing!" Louis yelled once they were in the car on the way back, Liam driving Louis' car. Harry smiled politely, looking down at his phone, and not responding to the compliment. "I did not know that you were that good of a driver. You're - agh! I'm fangirling, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." Harry was quiet. "At least we got the weapons that we need. You took care of everything else, right Lou?" There was something about Harry using Lou as a nickname that made Louis want to marry him and live in a country home with a wraparound porch and have fifty kids and nine dogs. Exactly. "Louis?" Harry asked again.

"Yeah. We're all taken care of."

"This is kind of random, Louis, but did your mom every call you by any nickname when you were younger? Because I feel like there are some good options for you."

"She just called me Boo Bear." Louis said. "But Hazzy! Harry, I mean! Hazzy, where did that come from? You're such a good driver."

"Boo Bear! Hazzy!" Liam was laughing with his head turned to the ceiling. "Niall will love Boo Bear."

"Hazza sounds better than Hazzy. Or Harry. Hazza. I'm calling you that from now on."

"I like it." Harry said in a small voice. "Hazza Styles." Louis smiled at Harry's smile, and for that moment, that was enough.


	9. Chapter 9

~Baby, you're perfect (x2)

So let's start right now~

 

 

When Louis woke up the next morning, as they had all fallen asleep at the house after stuffing themselves with food the night before, Harry is up already, at Zayn's desk, drawing. "What are you doing?" Louis asked sleepily, throwing on a shirt, and going to make himself a cup of tea.

"I couldn't sleep. So, I tried to make tea, but we didn't have any milk, so I went out for some." Harry said.

"And what are you doin' now?" He asked, walking over, while wrapping himself up in a blanket. He had slept on the couch; Niall, Liam, and Zayn had slept in the bunk bed room, and Harry had had the last bed to himself. Louis didn't really want to move from the couch last night, so he had stayed.

"Drawing the hotel. I'm almost finished with the sketch, and then Zayn's going to help me make a virtual version of it." Louis nodded, intrigued, but also wanting tea. He remembered his desire then, and wandered over to the kitchen, warming up a cup and getting out the milk. Then, he got out some leftover turkey and started eating it out of the Ziploc bag. "I also think that I'm going to help Niall with a virtual version of the safe."

"Well, I'm going to take Niall and Liam out, then. Black Friday. Got to buy gifts for my family back home."

"Oh yeah, where do you live in England?"

"Yorkshire."

"I'm from Cheshire." Harry smiled, being more talkative. Louis continued eating, and then went to wake the boys up for a day of shopping.

\---

"How many siblings do you have?" Liam laughed, as Louis continued loading up the cart at Target.

"I have five sisters and one brother." He smiled.

"My family disowned me, so." Niall said.

"Mine as well." Liam said, and the two high-fived.

"Figured I might buy some baby stuff to help Eleanor." Louis was looking very stylish in his Adidas as always, and he reminded Niall of a sugar daddy.

Louis picked out some random makeup items for the twins, some stuffies for the younger twins, an outfit for Fiz, and some housewarming things for Lotts. Then he got them candy and stocking stuffers, which he was planning to send to his dad, since his dad was useless when it came to that kind of stuff. He'd asked Louis to do it last Christmas, and he'd just do it this Christmas too.

Niall, meanwhile, used a bit of his stocked-up money to buy some toys for his nephew, which he'd just mail with a no-return address and not use a name. Liam decided to buy some clothes for himself, and he picked up a tea mug for Harry that fit his style. Ha. Style.

Once they were done at the store, literally shopping till they dropped, Louis got a bag of burgers and took them back to the house. "Wow, such a productive day." Zayn commented when they walked in the door.

"Give it a rest, you idiot." Liam threw the burgers at him. "We got the weapons stuff ready yesterday."

"Simon said that he's mailing it to Vegas, as of 8 P.M. last night." Louis confirmed.

"And, today we got the duffle bags for the cash." Niall added.

"Well, we got this virtual diagram of the hotel up. And we're almost done with the one for the safe." Zayn interjected.

"And we used Simon's credit card to order the suits and masks." Harry said, trying to act like Zayn. He confidently took a sip of his tea, but it was too hot, and he spit it onto Louis, who screamed over-dramatically. Harry burned red, and Louis ran to the bathroom to get a towel. Niall went to help Louis, and Zayn cleaned up the tea on the floor.

"It's alright, Haz." Liam soothed Harry, who was just standing there in shock.

Louis came out of the bathroom a minute later, with a red face, and got an ice pack to put on. He went to the main bedroom then, and shut the door behind him. Niall spoke for him. "He's a little tired."

"It was just some tea!" Liam exclaimed.

"It was about more than the tea." Niall said, mostly to himself, but Zayn heard it. So did Liam. But Harry? Harry, unfortunately, did not.


	10. Chapter 10

~I might never be the hands you put your heart in,

Or the arms that hold you any time you want them~

 

 

"Thanks for getting me out of the house." Zayn told Liam, who was very sneakily paying for their lunch with the credit card that Simon had given them for tasks related to the missions. Liam smiled at him, and watched Zayn bundle up the rest of the fries in a napkin and put them in his hoodie pocket.

"You heathen. Get a box."

"This way, I can eat them while we're walking back." Zayn said, and Liam couldn't help but agree to that statement.

"I actually have an appointment at the hospital soon, I've got to get going." Liam said, standing.

"Can I come?" Zayn asked, not wanting to go back to the house.

Liam thought it over, but nodded. "Of course."

The two of them walked over there, and finally Zayn asked why they were going. "Dialysis." Liam said. "I have a kidney thing. One of them just doesn't work."

"Do you need a transplant?" Zayn said, already signing away his kidney to this handsome boy. In his head of course. He didn't want to come off too strong.

"I'm surviving, right now. Not very high on the list. Condition isn't too bad at the moment. I get by with dialysis a couple times a week. Not too much water, not too much alcohol." Liam seemed embarrassed to tell Zayn this, but Zayn was quiet, accepting, and warm. The perfect boyfriend, except Liam was straight and didn't notice that Zayn liked him.

In the dialysis room, Zayn was offered a chair, and Liam started scrolling through Twitter. Zayn was looking at his phone as well, when Gemma came in for her dialysis. She was wearing sweats and a nice blouse, and was surprised to see Liam there. "Hello." She said to them.

"Hi." Zayn said. Liam waved to Gemma, and Zayn scooted in closer to Liam, feeling territorial over his man.

"Doing well?" Gemma asked, sounding constrained.

"Yes, I'm well. How about you?" Gemma gave a generic answer, and the longer Zayn stared, he realized that he recognized her. He just couldn't place from where.

Gemma was pretty quiet the rest of the time, but it was clear that she liked Liam, from the way she kept sneaking glances at him. Zayn kept trying to look away, but Liam was looking at her too, occasionally. And by the time they were done, Zayn was so emotionally overwhelmed that he almost exploded when Liam spoke.

"Louis left his car in a garage across the street. He wanted to walk." Zayn shrugged, and Liam got in the driver's seat a minute later, surprised that the car hadn't been stolen. Zayn turned the radio on to drown his thoughts out, and Liam started singing. "You have a nice voice." Zayn told him.

"Thanks." Liam laughed, and then his expression turned down. "I'm scared that I'm gonna mess this up."

"The job? We'll be prepared." Zayn said.

Liam closed his eyes. "Not the job, necessarily. Everything. I'm talking about you guys more. I'm going to mess up this good thing I've got going. I always do." Liam opened his eyes, driving through the now green light. "And I'll get back into heroin again or something."

"No, Liam. We won't let you. That's why Louis is so snoopy about you. He wants you to succeed." 

"I'm getting into therapist zone with you." Liam laughed.

"Would you like to hear my story?" Zayn asked. "My background." Liam nodded slowly. "I was born in Virginia, and was accepted to MIT. I left Virginia, and my family was so proud of me. The oldest child, going to an amazing school with an amazing scholarship. My second year, I had this math teacher who was blazing hot. Total 11 out of 10."

"Oh god." Liam covered his mouth.

"I stalked him." Zayn said, pulling at his jeans nervously. He hadn't really told the story to anyone. "And we had sex. Way too many times. I incited it."

"Wait, him?" Liam exclaimed, slamming on the brakes, but for traffic reasons.

"Yeah." Zayn said. "I'm gay." Liam's eyes bugged out of his head. "And we got caught. Of course. And I got kicked out of school. Haven't been home since."

"You got kicked out of MIT for sleeping with your math teacher?" Zayn nodded, and was just so happy that Liam found his sad backstory funny.

But Liam was actually quiet for a moment, thinking deeply. "You...you like me don't you?"

Zayn couldn't tell a lie. "Yeah. I do like you." He angrily wiped away his tears, getting ready for the rejection that was coming.

Expectedly, Liam sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Zayn. I just...don't like guys. I'm not attracted to them. It's not that I have a stigma against gays or the LGBT+ community, it's not who I am."

"I understand." Zayn said, trying to keep the tears out of his throat.

"I'm sorry." Liam said, hunching down into his seat. Zayn went silent, but he was just silently crying.


	11. Chapter 11

~But that don't mean that we can't live here in the moment,

'Cause I can be the one you love from time to time~

 

 

The next morning, it was early when Louis got there, and Harry immediately begged to let him use his car to go see his sister. Louis let him, with a warning to not get into any street races or crash it. And would he please, for god's sake, wear a seatbelt?

Harry had also made breakfast for the lot of them. The smell of it woke Niall up, and Louis beckoning Liam to the kitchen got him up, but Zayn refused to get out of bed. He sounded emotional, and he had slept in the big bedroom last night. "Zayn, food!" Niall yelled.

"Go away!" Zayn yelled back.

"What's his deal?" Louis asked.

"He got rejected by his crush yesterday." Liam said, shoveling more eggs down his throat.

Niall turned red angry. "How dare you reject poor little Zayn, Liam?"

"What?" Liam asked. "How'd you know it was me?"

"Because Zayn's in love with you!" Niall yelled, almost on the verge of tears. "Ziam is dead?!?" Niall ran to the bathroom and locked himself inside.

"I'm not gay." Liam said in his defense. "I let him down nicely."

"Then why is he sobbing very loudly?" Louis asked, pulling a cup of tea up to his mouth and glancing at Liam over the edge of the mug. 

Liam looked towards the bedroom, feeling terrible for hurting Zayn's feelings. "He'll get over it."

\---

Zayn did not get over it.

The four of them went to the gym to workout for the day, and Zayn was running on a treadmill, his lungs heaving and face red from crying. Liam felt terrible, and finally turned off Zayn's treadmill. "Let's go get lunch. I'll buy so that you all stop hating me."

"I hate you more than Zayn hates you." Niall said, setting the bench press down. Louis, who hadn't done any exercising since they got there, smiled half-heartedly at Liam.

"I don't hate you." Zayn said, trying to contain his emotions. "I'm over it. Completely over it."

"You broke up my ship." Niall said, disgusted at Liam as they left their bags in the gym and headed outside. It was Simon's gym after all, and no one was there.

"Ship?" Liam asked.

"If you like two people as a couple, you ship them." Louis explained, since he was a Wattpad and Tumblr guy. Liam should've gotten the reference if he was a Twitter guy, but apparently he did not, because his next remark was...

"Ship them where?" He asked.

They walked down the street, towards the food trucks. "I need me a crepe. I'll buy one for me and Niall." Louis said.

"I don't want a - no wait, yes I do." Niall changed his mind, and Louis dragged him off towards the crepe cart.

"What do you want?" Liam asked Zayn.

"Some nachos." Zayn said, quietly. Liam made the mental note to get himself some tacos, and he ordered for Zayn and himself.

"And you know, Zayn. I really am sorry about -"

"It's fine, Liam. I am fine."

"It's just...you don't look like it." Liam grabbed his tacos as they came out, and they waited another minute for Zayn's nachos, before heading over to the crepe stand, which had a long line. 

"Keep buying me food, and I think I'll be alright." Zayn smiled, sweeping his hair behind his ear. Liam thought it was a cute gesture, and smiled at him.

A little while later, they sat on the sidewalk in front of the gym. And Louis kept sighing dramatically while eating his crepe. "What?" Zayn finally asked.

"Do you think Harry would say yes if I asked him on a date?" Niall got really excited then, hyperventilating.

"The ship. The ship. Larry. It's real." Niall pretended to pass out, or die, and Louis continued.

"I like him." He said simply.

"Make sure that he likes guys." Zayn said bitterly.

"He does." Niall says. "It says so on his Instagram." Zayn had a painful flashback to stalking everyone, and he remembered Harry's bio as Niall said it out loud. "Treat people with kindness. Proud to be bisexual. G is my world. And a little green heart."

"G?" Louis said, more worried about that than the fact that Harry was interested in dudes.

"His sister, you dummy." Niall giggled. Louis wondered how Niall and Harry were so close. "And yes, go after him. And if he says no, you can be sad with Zayn." Zayn made a cheering noise.

Louis smiled, glad that these guys supported him.

And suddenly, Zayn connected the dots between the girl in the dialysis lab, Gemma, and the letter G from Harry's Instagram bio.

Oh no.


	12. Chapter 12

~When I first saw you,

From across the room~

 

 

"I mean, how dressed up do you want to be?" Zayn asked Harry. Zayn was currently wearing the same pair of sweats that he had been for the last week, and he hadn't showered in probably that long, but he was making remarkable progress in his mission to crack the hotel security, as well as to plan out everything else.

"He hasn't told me how fancy I need to be." Harry whined.

"Third level of fancy." Niall whispered through a crack in the door. "Like a dress shirt and slacks. That's what Louis' wearing. Also, you'll look really hot if you wear a bowtie, no homo."

"Thanks?" Harry said as Niall shut the door again and went back to helping Louis get ready.

Pretty soon, the two of them were both standing in the living room, eyeing each other over. Niall was probably Snapchatting the whole event in the corner of the room, Liam couldn't have cared less, and Zayn was misty-eyed. "Let's go?" Louis asked his date, and Harry was all smiles as he nodded.

Louis really did look like a sugar daddy, and Niall loved every second of it. "Be home before midnight!" Liam yelled at them, being completely serious. "New York is dangerous!"

Harry and Louis left, walking down to Louis' car. "Where are we going?" Harry asked Louis, excited.

"Dinner." Louis smiled at him. Harry was all smiles that night in his little bow-tie, white shirt, and slacks. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"I'm just worried that you'll think I'm a terrible kisser." Harry pouted.

"Who said anything about kissing?" Louis said, and Harry grinned slyly. "How often have you thought about kissing me?"

Harry laughed awkwardly and looked past Louis, out the driver's side window. "Help me, Jeffery."

"Answer the question, Hazza." Louis smiled, even though he was trying to come off as serious.

"More often than I'd like to admit!" He finally said. "You're hot, Louis."

Louis became an actual sun when Harry complimented him like that.

They talked and laughed their way through dinner, and Louis found out that Harry had been backpacking through Europe, and had been in a band once, before it disbanded and he came to America. Louis talked more about him and Eleanor, and how they didn't love each other. It was a couple of one night stands, and now they were going to have a baby girl.

"Well, that doesn't scare me away, if you're wondering. I love kids." Harry said. "I want to adopt all the children who don't have homes in the whole world!" Harry might have been a little drunk, but Louis could've listened to Drunk Harry talk for hours. "And that look you're giving me makes me think you're going to try to take advantage of me. Did you put something in my drink?"

"No. You're just drunk." Louis smiled at him.

"I'm going to the toilets." Harry said.

"Don't be long!" Louis called after him, watching the gangly gazelle bump into people across the restaurant, and apologizing in his deep voice.

But, it was almost twenty minutes later, and they had presented Louis with a dessert menu, and Harry still hadn't come back. Louis hoped to everything that the drunk man hadn't crawled out the window and was walking back to the house. Maybe he had just gotten sick?

Louis finally went into the bathroom. "Hazza?" He asked, checking all the stalls. He banged on the locked one, and there was a sniffle inside that sounded like Harry. Not caring about decency, he crawled under the door inside. "Oops." He said, as he touched Harry's shoe.

"Hi." Harry whispered. He was curled up in a ball in the corner, crying. There were hives breaking out on his skin.

"Are you going into anaphylactic shock?" Louis asked him, worried.

"No." Harry continued crying. "I can't get up. Lou, help me. I need to go to the hospital. Please." Louis got the tall frog on his feet, and paid the bill at the desk, and walked with Harry out to his car. When he got inside, he started punching in directions for the nearest hospital. "Please, not there. Take me to Bellevue. My sister's there. Please, Lou. Gemma's there. I want Gemma."

The whole way, Louis felt like he was having a panic attack, and Harry was crying and trying not to die in his passenger seat. "Don't die, okay?" Louis kept saying.

"I want Gemma." He kept crying, and when Louis finally pulled up in front of the emergency room and got Harry signed in, he called Gemma from Harry's phone.

"Hi, this is Louis. I'm a friend of Harry's. We're in the emergency room at Bellevue, and he's saying that he needs you here." Harry kept asking for Gemma, and two minutes later, she was there. Wearing pajamas and holding an I.V. bag that was in her arm.

"My nurse is pissed, Harold." She said. "Hey!" She yelled to the lady at the desk. "He needs some oxygen." Gemma was definitely a patient, but she had been there for so long that she bossed everyone around. She got the oxygen hooked up to him. "Are you okay?" Gemma asked him. Louis was red and shaking.

He sat down on the floor in front of Harry, who started running his hands through Lou's hair, messing it all up, but who cared? It was comforting him. "This your date?" She asked her younger brother. "He's kind of a twink."

"He's not a twink." Harry said through the mask. "He's sexy."

"He's freaking out more than you." She was trying to calm him down with humor, and it looked like it was working. "Do you have someone who can drive you home?" She directed her attention to Louis. "He'll be here for the rest of the night."

"I'll call someone." Louis asked Zayn to get a cab to the hospital to come get him and his car, since he was in too much of a wreck to drive. "Will he be okay?"

"Yes. We'll get some meds in him, and he'll be fine."

"What's wrong with him?" He asked, lowering his voice. Harry was becoming comfortable in the chair, closing his eyes to take a little nap.

"He'll tell you when he's ready." Gemma smiled at Louis.

When Zayn came, and Louis separated himself from the boy, he cried. He just cried and cried while Zayn drove him back to the house.

He really wanted his mum.


	13. Chapter 13

~I could tell that you were curious (oh, yeah)~

 

 

"Want a cuppa?" Harry asked the next morning, waking Louis up from his position in the big room, where Zayn also was asleep because he was worried about him.

"Yes." Zayn replied, mostly still asleep.

Louis nodded at Harry, noticing that it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Harry brought in a tray of tea stuff, and Niall and Liam also came into the room. "Is this an intervention?" Zayn asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No." Harry said, handing him the tea. "It's time for me to come clean. Liam talked about his kidney thing the other day, and now it's my turn."

"You don't have to." Louis said, as Harry handed him his cup, already with milk in it.

"I do." Harry said. "And I should start from the beginning, I guess. I was born in Cheshire, England. Holmes Chapel. My granddad owned a go-kart track, and that was where I got into driving. As I got older, I got into street racing. And it got easier to sneak out when Gemma went to college. She's four years older than I am. But, I got busted for the racing, and I went to juvie. I was a mess in there. I cried like every day and asked to call my mom all the time. When I got out, after I learned my lesson," Harry began to look at the ground instead of all around the room. "She sent me to boarding school for my last couple of years, and I dropped out. Backpacked around Europe with some bad people. I joined a band. Did more racing. All fun stuff. Then, the band broke up, and I had a lot of debt to the wrong people, so I did a stint as a bounty hunter to pay it back." Harry finally took a deep breath to breathe. "Sometime in the middle of that, Gemma got diagnosed with SLE, which is an autoimmune disease."

"Lupus." Zayn whispered.

Harry nodded at him. "She has a severe form that affects her kidneys, and she's not expected to live long if she doesn't get a transplant. But she keeps doing things that push her further down the list to get one, because she believes in charity and helping others. And it was all going well, she came to America to get better treatment. My mom works way too hard to pay her bills, which is one reason that I'm doing this, to help Gem and my mum. But, yeah, it was all going well, until around early March of this year, when I was diagnosed with SLE as well." Harry stopped after that, and Louis set his tea down so that he wouldn't spill it. They were all of the edge of their seats.

"Damn, Harry." Liam said.

"I'm in better condition compared to Gemma." He said. "I get flare-ups once a month or even more infrequent than that. It won't impact the mission, I swear." Harry started crying then, feeling emotional. "I didn't tell anyone, because it's just part of the burden of being me."

The four of them crowded around Harry, giving him a hug. Louis had the most direct hug, and Harry was hugging him back. "I'll talk too, to make you feel better. But it isn't nearly as sad as yours. And then, no more storytime. We'll get to your guys' some other day." The other three nodded, and Louis started to speak.

"Born in Yorkshire. Doncaster. Me mum and my dad separated when I was two, and she got remarried to my dad. I've always called him my dad, even after they got divorced a while ago. But, I have five sisters. Lottie, Fizz, Phoebe and Daisy, and Ernest and Doris. Ernest and Doris are the youngest, and they have a different dad, because me mum got remarried after her and my dad split again. It's complicated, that's all I'm getting at. She died about two years ago, of leukemia. Worst thing of my life. I met Simon when she was in the hospital, and I did the first job to help pay for better treatment. But, even with the treatment, she didn't get better, and she died. And I still stay in New York quite often, do odd jobs for Simon. But this is the last one, because I'm having a baby girl with a girl named Eleanor, and I plan to be there for her. Both Eleanor and the baby. But, I don't like Eleanor. Like romantically or anything. No way. But yeah, that's my story. Yada yada."

"I'm sorry, about your mum." Harry said, back to his slow way of talking now that he was done.

"It's alright." Louis said, but he pulled away like he wasn't okay.

Niall exclaimed then. "I've done it! I know how to crack the safe!" He ran into the other room and started working, and Louis left the house after that, needing some air and a cigarette.

"Just let him be." Zayn said to Harry. "He needs some space. And that was brave, what you did." Harry sniffled and nodded back to him.

Liam went to make breakfast. Zayn continued to hug Harry. "Give him like ten minutes, and then go get your man. He cried himself to sleep last night. I assume he's upset about the surprise ending to your date." Harry smiled at Zayn.

"Thanks, Zayn." He said. "And for what it's worth, I think Liam may be softening to you too." Harry kissed Zayn on the cheek, and then he went to go look for his coat and shoes.


	14. Chapter 14

~Girl, I hope you're sure,

What you're looking for,

'Cause I'm not good at making promises~

 

 

"And then, he was like, I told you I should have worn the lamppost costume, Dontai!" Louis said, using his keys to open up the door to his apartment. He paused, huffing. "It's already open?"

He swung open the door, and pushed Harry out of the doorway so that he couldn't follow him inside. "I have a bat!" He yelled, getting his bat from his hall closet. Harry pushed his way inside.

"I'm more intimidating. You're five foot." He said and snatched the bat.

"Jesus." Someone said, coming down the hall. "Calm down." It was a feminine voice, and that messed Harry up a little bit inside.

But Louis recognized the voice. "Lottie?" He ran to meet the girl who was just a tad shorter than him. "What are you doing in New York?" He asked her after a long hug.

"I have some business to do. When are you coming home?" She asked.

"I'll be home around the 20th. I sent the packages off. Did they get there yet?" Lottie shrugged, and finally addressed Harry.

"Lottie. Louis' oldest sister." The two of them shook hands.

"This is Harry." Louis introduced him, taking away the bat and putting it away. "We're kind of dating." Lottie wasn't surprised by that in the least, and smiled at Harry warmly.

"You're a tall glass of water there." She said, looking him up and down.

"When did you get in?" Louis asked, and Lottie shrugged at him. "Do you want to do dinner tonight? Unless you have plans?"

"I have a meeting at three, but dinner sounds wonderful. Wanna go clubbing?"

"Not tonight, Lottie." Louis said. "Look, I'll bring the rest of my friends, and I'll pay for dinner."

"Fine." She said. "Come pick me up from here later then." She walked back down the hall, and Louis began checking his mail, watering his plants, getting more clothes, etc.

"She's lovely." Harry said to Louis as they left the apartment. 

"She's overbearing. She's basically my mum. I'm just glad that she isn't a carbon copy of her or I would never be able to handle her." Harry laughed, and slid his hand into Louis. Louis continued laughing and talking to Harry, and Harry just watched him, amazed with every part of him. His smile. The cheekbones. His beautiful long eyelashes. Louis Tomlinson was beautiful. He was Harry's now too.

\---

"Hi, I'm Louis' sister." Lottie said, shaking all of their hands. "How do you all know each other?"

"Work." Louis said, giving Lottie a look. She didn't question it further, and neither did any of the others. 

Instead, they got their drink on. Louis was the designated driver, and didn't let Harry touch alcohol due to his flare up the other night, but Zayn was getting hammered, Liam was sipping, and Niall was wasted. Free alcohol to him, but a lot of money to Louis. It was fine though. Lottie was sipping on some cocktails, catching up with her brother. Dancing with hot guys and flirting.

It was a good night. Then, there was a slow song, and Zayn threw himself on Liam, begging for a dance. Liam laughed his way through it, trying to get Zayn's uncooperative body parts to dance. "I like your tattoos." He slurred.

"Yours are nice too, there, partner." Liam made a pained face, but Zayn didn't catch it. Louis did, however, and he went to go pry Zayn off of Liam.

Before he got there, though, Liam fell over, Zayn on top of him. People stopped dancing to ask if he was okay, and the rest of the crew ran over to drag him off the dance floor. "Are you okay?" Zayn asked. "I'm sorry, Liam."

"I drank too much." He said, tears coming out of his eyes. "Please. The hospital. I'm going to get sicker. I can't handle this."

And so, for the second time that week, Louis drove one of his friends to the hospital after a night out.

Lottie called a cab home, and Niall and Harry went off to talk to Gemma, while Louis took Zayn up to the dialysis room with Liam. They were given chairs, and they were surprised to find Gemma already in there, sipping tea. "Is he okay?" She asked, worried.

"Drank too much in the club." Louis said.

"That's the second time that's happened in a month." Gemma said.

"You know Liam?" Louis questioned.

"Yes, I know Liam. He's been coming to this hospital for a couple weeks now. Ever since Harry started that new job. He's a part of that job, isn't he?"

"You know about the job?" Zayn asked.

"Gemma!" Harry said, came into the room, and then realized the tense atmosphere. Niall slumped in a chair and tried to get some rest.

"Harry, we're not supposed to tell anyone about the job! If Simon finds out...."

"Gemma's not going to tell anyone." Harry said. "She's a good egg. And I didn't give her all the details. All I said is that I'm doing something that's a little bad that's going to get me a lot of money for her medical bills, and I'll never be caught. They'll be no repercussions."

"There's always repercussions." Niall laughed sadly, mostly to himself.

Louis was so fed up with everything that was happening and going on. "I need air." He said. "I'm suffocating."

"I'll text you guys when I'm done here. Just go home." Liam said. "All of you."

"Okay." Harry said. "Bye, Gemma."

"Wait, that's your sister?" Niall said, as Harry picked him up like a baby. Louis facepalmed and led the way to the car.


	15. Chapter 15

~But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms,

And if you like having secret little rendezvous~

 

 

"Louis, where are you goin'?" Harry asked, poking his head up from the couch as Louis prepared to slip out.

"Going to hang with Lottie for the day. Tell the boys that the lot of us are goin' shopping tomorrow for Vegas." He kissed Harry's forehead, and then left the house.

Harry quickly texted Louis when he left. Movie tonight?

Course.

"GUYS, I'VE MADE A BREAKTHROUGH!" Zayn screamed at the top of his lungs then, and Harry sighed, not ready to go through with the day. He'd rather lay in bed all day and watch chick flicks.

\---

"Hi." Harry said, popping into Louis' car that evening. "Ready?"

"Totally. Let's hope this date goes better than the last one." Louis smiled at his man, and they were off to the movie theatre.

"You seem a bit down." Harry asked, kissing Louis' knuckles.

"I'm just missing my mum. Man, December is a terrible month. I have to live through my birthday and Christmas without her every year in close succession, and it's always too much to handle. I'll turn 24 on Christmas Eve."

"Your birthday is on Christmas Eve! That's so cool!" Harry said, typing something into his phone, and then he started scrolling. "I have to work like triple hard to find a good present now."

"Don't worry about, Haz. You're the best present that I could have." Harry blushed, wondering how the fates connected him and Louis. He was such a private person, and Louis was explosive and out there. Flamboyant.

Louis bought them popcorn and drinks, and the two of them had a wonderful time watching the movie. No bad ending to this date. This time, they just went back to the house afterwards. Everyone was still awake.

Liam and Niall were dancing to a Disney playlist, while Zayn fried chicken in the kitchen. "How was the date?" Niall asked.

"It was good." Louis said.

"Who wants to watch Toy Story?" Liam laughed, throwing a pillow towards Zayn in the kitchen, who hissed. Literally hissed.

"No one, Liam!" Niall giggled, running his hand through his hair.

"I want to watch the Notebook." Harry said.

"No! Ew!" Louis said. "Fast and the Furious." There was an approval from Zayn and Niall, so Louis pulled it up on Netflix. Liam and Harry couldn't stay mad for long, and soon they were laughing and joking with the rest of them.

Life is good, Niall thought.

Life is good, Liam thought.

Liam looks really hot right now, Zayn thought.

I wish Louis would quit smiling, because it's contagious, Harry thought.

I don't want this to end, Louis thought...


	16. Chapter 16

~If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do~

 

 

The squad was waiting in the car at the curb, waiting for Niall, of course. Louis had wanted a donut, and as usual, had forced Niall to buy it for him from his favorite shop. Niall was happy to do so, was the thing, and he happily handed it to Louis once they got in the car. "Where to first?" He asked his mates.

"I need to stop by my apartment." Liam said, punching the address into his phone. "I have a bag there, and my clothes."

"Then, the dry cleaners is close by. We can pick up our suits." Harry said.

"Then, my apartment?" Zayn asked, and Louis nodded.

Rather soon, they were at Liam's apartment, and waiting in a parking garage across the street. "This is a good donut." Louis commented to Niall, who sipped his iced coffee silently.

Harry was on the phone with his mum, pacing outside the car. "Yes, mum. I'm going to get her a bag packed, and I'll walk her to the gate, make sure that she gets on a plane safely. And you'll pick her up at the airport. It'll all be fine." Harry was talking about Gemma, of course, and her plans to fly home for Christmas. Anne, Harry's mum, was still upset that he wasn't flying with her, but Gemma was a big girl. 25 years old.

After Liam returned, Harry went and got the dry cleaning, and Zayn all invited them inside his apartment, since he needed a few. He packed up some technical equipment, some clothes, and then he cleaned out his fridge, and then the group started walking towards the mall. Harry didn't want the group to come to his apartment - not even Louis. And all of Niall's stuff was already at the house, since he lived in New Jersey.

Target was separated into three different levels, and the group quickly found the travel section. They all clamored over each other's needs and wants. "Toothbrushes." Louis told them all.

"I can't use that toothpaste." Niall whined. "And I need more hair dye!"

"Deodorant!" Liam announced, putting some in the basket Harry was holding.

"I need lotion. I have very dry skin." Zayn said.

"Face wash." Harry said, reaching over Louis' head, which pissed him off.

"It's a nice hotel. They'll have shampoo and conditioner in the rooms. We just need to pack our clothes and the supplies for the job." Louis told them, trying to put the excess of stuff back on the shelves.

"I need this." Niall whined, holding up a baby bottle of hand sanitizer. "It's cute." They all glared at him, and he put it back with a pout.

Once they had checked out, finally, they went and got coffee. Liam was the one to take their orders, go up to the corner, and then come back with them a couple minutes later. "Iced coffee for Niall." He handed it to the blonde-haired lad.

"Hot chocolate for Harry."

"Did you get sprinkles?" The six foot tall man asked. "And whipped cream?"

Liam nodded. "Vanilla latte, Zayn." He handed it to the usually fashion conscious member of the group, but who today was just wearing a sweater that covered his hands, and glasses, along with ripped jeans. Zayn was very careful to not brush Liam's hand as he took his drink.

"Thanks," He whispered.

"And for Louis, a Grasshopper Mocha." Louis gratefully took his drink, and almost burned his tongue before his boyfriend covered his mouth and preventing him from drinking before blowing on it.

"Slowly, Lou."

"That's what she said." Louis said, moving his drink away from his mouth. "Anyways, where to? Are we done shopping? Does everyone have everything that they need for Vegas? Is everyone's health concerns taken care of?"

"Yes. I won't have another flare, because they are pretty infrequent." Harry smiled.

"I won't drink, and my doctor talked to the dialysis lab closest to the hotel, just in case. I'll go frequently before the trip. All my appointments are lined up and planned." Liam smiled.

"I mean, I'm bringing my retainer." Niall smirked, and most of them chuckled.

They walked down the street, and after a while, Louis put his hand in Harry's. Niall was having another fangirl attack about it, in that moment, and Liam looked over at Zayn, who stared down into his latte. But he seemed to be thinking about how he could never have what Harry and Louis had with Liam, even if he so desperately wanted it.

"You good?" Liam asked, slinging an arm around the boy.

Zayn shrank away from him. "Stop asking, please. It's only making it worse." He tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn't handle it anymore, so he ran ahead of the group who was making their way back to the car, threw his mostly full latte in the nearest trash can, and ran all the way back to the parking garage.

Niall looked back at Liam. Liam's face showed so many emotions at once, that his face was blank, but his eyes told the story, and Niall could see that. "I'll meet you at the car."

Liam turned and went back towards the Starbucks, the wrong direction. Niall ran to catch up with the couple, who didn't ask about the whole other encounter. Zayn appeared again once they got on the elevator. "We can't leave without Liam." Niall said.

Zayn's face was red from crying, and his hood was drawn in to help against the cold.

As Louis unlocked the car, Harry spoke. "Who's cup is on the car?" He grabbed it, and then handed it to Zayn.

"I threw mine away." Zayn sniffled, and noticed his name written on the cup. It was another vanilla latte.

"Liam said that he's walking back." Louis said, putting his phone back in his pocket. "I mean, that's a long walk, but alright."

Zayn stared down at his new latte, wondering how Liam could've gotten him a new one, got into the parking garage without him noticing, since he was standing right outside waiting for the others, and made it up to the car, before the others did.

Liam was a mystery. One that Zayn wished that he could forget.


	17. Chapter 17

~Baby, I'm perfect,

Baby, I'm perfect for you~

 

 

It rained through the afternoon, and everyone was working hard. Liam eventually showed up, took a shower, then napped in the big bedroom. Louis noticed the dismal mood that surrounded them all, and then shut off the electricity, startling everyone.

"Power outage?" Niall asked, looking at his screen, which was still on, but all the lights were off.

"No, I did that." Louis said. "We're going to do something fun."

Harry scoffed at him. "I want to take a nap. That sounds like fun."

"Yeah, I just want to stay here." Zayn added. 

A couple minutes later, Louis had them all in the car, wrapped in blankets. Louis went to his apartment, and came back a couple minutes later with three skateboards. He put them in the trunk, and drove to the Pier 62 Skatepark. Niall was buzzing, and so was Louis.

"It's dark out. We're not supposed to be here." Liam shivered, regretting his fashion choice of shorts and a tank top. It was December now. And it had just started snowing. Louis thought that it was a pretty mild winter for the North.

"I have never skated before." Niall said, grabbing one of the boards. Louis began showing him some of the basics, and Harry and Zayn both grabbed a board, zooming up and down the ramps. Liam sat in the car, wrapped in a blanket, and then he moved to a bench.

"Storytime." Liam announced to the darkness. "It's my turn." Louis turned to him expectantly. "I got into a rough crowd in high school. Got into heroin and ecstasy very early. I've always been very against smoking, but I'm not going to like force you to stop or anything if I see it." That statement was mostly to Louis and Zayn, since both of them smoked cigarettes. "I went to college, to get a criminal justice degree, to become a police officer, but I flunked out. Met the mafia guys. I spent a lot of time with them, and they eventually shelled out the money for me to go back to school once I got clean for a bit, but it didn't work out. I went back to drugs. I couldn't go back to the mafia, after that, and my kidneys started dying, so I had to get off drugs, but I'm majorly broke, and I tried to rob a convenience store. Simon bailed me out. Wants to make my rap sheet go away. Get me into a good school. I said, what the hell? That's it. That's my life." Zayn was listening, but he pretended that he wasn't, and he decided to talk next, giving up the board to Louis.

"I'm Zayn. Hello. I was born in Virginia, and I left for MIT. Amazing school. I slept with my math teacher, who was a dude, and I got kicked out, and then I did some programming and stuff in South America, traveling around, and then I started up into hacking for money and stuff. I also used to do graffiti a lot as a kid, and I got busted for that, and Simon bailed me out. I have a pretty simple story."

"You slept with your math teacher? Zayn, that's bad." Harry said to him.

"He was so hot." Zayn was practically drooling thinking about him, and Liam clenched his fists, feeling his breathing become unnatural.

"Only Niall's left now." Louis said, coming back to where Niall was struggling on the board. "Your story, lad."

Niall seemed guarded, as Louis took the board. "You don't have to." Harry told him.

Niall nodded, and spoke anyways, pacing all the while. "I was born in Ireland, although my accent is faded now. I got into too many fights as a kid because I had a big mouth. When I finished school, I got a psychology degree, and started working as a therapist."

"How old are you again?" Zayn asked, but Niall talked over him.

"One of my first jobs was in this prison, helping criminals and stuff. I got in over my head. I care too much for people. This one man convinced me that he was innocent, and I helped break him out of jail. Of course, I got arrested. There was a trial and everything. In jail, my cellie was a safe cracker, and he taught me everything he knew before he committed suicide, because he was serving a very long sentence. Then, I broke myself out of prison and moved to the states."

The air was silent.

While there were some bombshells in the other stories, no one was really prepared for Niall's story. He really was a wanted man. He had broken out of prison.

"Don't turn me in." He said, holding his hands in front of his face.

"We're not going to turn you in." Louis said. "I'm a bankrobber, remember? We're all criminals. Have done bad stuff. We're just all shocked."

"How'd you break out of prison?" Zayn asked, shocked.

Niall shrugged. "I just did it. But, this is why I change me hair color a lot, and I don't go places with a lot of people. And I don't draw attention to myself. Yeah."

Louis sat on the ground and put an arm around Niall. "Well, I'm glad to know you. Glad to know every last one of you."

Zayn smiled at Louis and Niall and Harry, and then got back on the board, zooming off. Niall got back on a board, but immediately fell off, saving his teeth from destruction with a hand covering his mouth. "I'm fine." He said. "But that hurt!"

"Want to, Liam?" Harry asked. Liam shook his head.

A couple minutes later, there was the sounds of sirens in the air. Coming towards them. Liam freaked, looking towards the car, which was parked on the street, too far of a distance to run.

"Scatter!" Louis yelled, taking Niall's hand and running out the gate. Liam took off his blanket and ran for the gate too, and couldn't see where Louis and Niall had gone, so he ran to the right towards a covered bus stop and some foliage.

He crouched on the ground behind the sign, making himself as small and as invisible as possible. He didn't see or hear the others.

The cop got out of the car, and went inside to do a sweep of the skate park. While he was doing that, Liam ran across the street, and hid behind a low wall, but he tripped and fell into someone. "Get off of me." Zayn pushed him out into the street, but Liam quickly got back into the darkness. "What do you want?"

"To not get captured by the cops?" Liam asked, huffing. Zayn held the board close and rolled his eyes. "Oh, get off your high horse. We're in this together."

"So I'm better than you, is the point that I'm trying to make? Because I am. I don't need you, you absolute -" The cop's flashlight shone onto the street in front of them, and Zayn quieted down. "I am so much better than you. I will stay on my high horse. You're a druggie, like Louis said, and you can't say that you're against smoking, you hypocrite, when I saw you stealing cigarettes out of my pack last week."

"I was taking them so you wouldn't smoke them!" Liam said, feeling like crying inside. "You smoke more than Louis does, and I wanted you to stop, because sometimes you wear my jacket thinking that I won't notice, and when you give it back, it reeks."

The cop drove away after locking the gate, but the two of them kept fighting. "How dare you say you care about me, when you reject me like that?"

"I like girls!" Liam whisper-yelled. "Is that so hard to believe!?! That I'm not attracted to you!?! Not everyone is, so stop telling yourself that! You're just vain! Vain Zayn!" Liam was crying now, and Zayn was confused as to his change. "And it's like you're forcing me to be something that I'm not, and it's really messed up and kind of douchey."

"I'm sorry." Zayn said, looking at the ground like a six-year old. "Please stop crying."

"I can't stop." Liam said, burying his face in the blanket to muffle the sobs. After another minute, Zayn started pulling the blanket away from him, and he set it on top of the skateboard. Then he scooted closer to Liam, heart pounding.

"Please, no." Liam said. "Just let me collect myself." Zayn put his hands on Liam's face, making him look at him. "Zayn, stop it." He said, crying harder.

Zayn watched Liam cry, studying his tears and the redness of the face, and Liam just closed his eyes, wondering to himself why Zayn was torturing him like this. "Please, just stop. Please." Zayn said, sounding stressed.

"Why?" Liam finally asked.

"So, I can kiss you!" Zayn exclaimed, finally leaning in and kissing Liam squarely on the lips.

And the weird thing was, for all his talk, Liam kissed Zayn back.


	18. Chapter 18

~And if you like midnight driving with the windows down~

 

 

Harry's heart beat out of his chest as he carefully maneuvered around the room with the three other sleeping boys in it. Liam was asleep on the other top bunk, Louis on the bottom here, and Niall there. Harry was currently trying not to wake Louis up as he climbed down the stairs, and snatched Louis' keys out of his pocket.

His head was clouded, and nothing helped to defog his mind like a drive through town. He figured that he'd maybe go down to the beach. Watch the sunrise. Bring back some coffee for the crew, before they got on with the events of that Monday. When Harry realized it was Monday, he realized that that meant that in seven days was the heist. The job.

They had seven days, and Harry had never felt more terrified.

So, he was going on a drive.

Once he got Louis' keys and snuck past the nocturnal Zayn, who was stuck in his corner and buried in his work, Harry got in the car and got onto the street. And he realized that a regular drive wouldn't do. He needed to go fast.

100 miles per hour, zipping down the road, away from everything he knows. Turning around corners at the speed of light. Laughing. Singing. Just Harry and the road. It's all he knew.

And of course, his thoughts came to ruin it. He tried to banish them by thinking of Louis. He wished that he were there, changing the radio and eating food out of a fast food paper bag with grease covering the bottom. Harry just wished that real life was just like his fantasies, but of course, it's not.

And of course, the police come to ruin his fun. He's been breaking the speed limit and all sorts of traffic laws. "You won't catch me." Harry said cockily.

He was the getaway driver for the mission in a week. He had to be prepared. This was his logic as the police engaged in a high speed pursuit with him.

Eventually, he turned off his headlights, and swung into a dark alley, then zig-zagged down many roads, finally pulling into a parking garage that requested that you pay when you leave. He went up to only the second floor, then he parked as straightly as he could manage, turned off the car, and hid under another car that was there.

They never got him.

After the excitement died down, and a lot of time had passed, Harry got in the car. The adrenaline had worn off, and he had a massive headache now, and wanted to puke. He figured that he would go see Gemma, and would try to keep himself away from his hypochondriac tendencies, and not enter the E.R.

"Hello, lovely." He said to his sister. The nurses always let Harry right in, as they had a sweet spot for him, and he always brought them baked goods as his bribe. Gemma was sitting in her bed, not working, but instead, just staring at the ceiling.

"Can you live without kidneys?" She asked.

"Nope, love." He said, sitting in the chair in the corner. "How are you?"

Gemma gave him a very cross look. "Why are you here at three in the morning?"

"I didn't want to get arrested for driving crazily, so I came here to have a nice nap before I go back to the house. Also, you're leaving tomorrow afternoon, so I figured I might hang out with you, do some paperwork. Chill out."

"How about you calm down? You're speaking at the speed of light there, buddy." Gemma commented, yawning.

Harry took a deep breath. "Would you like some pudding?"

"I would like to go to bed." She said. "Can you call the nurse for me?"

Harry called the nurse in the room, who administered some more sleeping medication to help the girl, who quickly fell into a fitful sleep. Her brother covered her up with one of her blankets from back home, and he called his mom to just talk to her. Her voice quickly put him to sleep as well, and he was finally at ease.

He just hoped that the police hadn't seen Louis' license plate, and weren't going to find him or the car in the morning.


	19. Chapter 19

~And if you like going places we can't even pronounce

If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about~

 

 

"Go." Liam shouted, and Louis and Niall both began climbing up the ropes. Both of them had improved their upper body strength, but for Niall it was still a struggle. Both were wearing fifty pound backpacks to symbolize the money that they would have, and Niall was carrying his safe-cracking gear, while Louis was holding a fake gun.

In the air vents, they would have the walls to help them, but they had to practice it like this, just in case. About a week prior, the two of them went out and bought slip-resistant shoes, so that they could easily climb the walls, and they had proven to be high-quality when everyone else had fallen on snow, and Niall and Louis had laughed at them.

Louis reached the top first, and then slid down to the bottom. Niall was maybe twenty seconds behind him. Louis knew that he was good, but the two of them went through that routine for another hour. Liam watched them, and Harry was AWOL, along with Louis' car. One of Simon's company cars picked them up to come work out.

Everyone else could tell that something happened between Zayn and Liam that night - they just had no idea what it was. Liam was a whole lot quieter, and before, Zayn was just teary-eyed and clingy to the others, while today he seemed more likely to retreat inside himself than anything else.

And Harry and Louis were still going strong. Most days, they shared a pot of tea before bed and just talked for hours about each other's lives. No secrets, no holds barred.

And there was Niall, who was happy to be along for the ride. He was just such a happy-go-lucky guy, and everyone was still really shocked that a softie like him had broken out of prison and was currently on the run.

After the two of them were more secure in their rope-climbing abilities, they practiced unscrewing vent covers, with Niall eventually being able to do all four corners with a drill in thirty seconds, or just a bit less. The two of them did a run down then, of unscrewing the vent covers, pretending to slide down a chute, and then Niall would have to crack the safe, then there was the stuffing money into the bags, and the climbing up and out, and then they were home free once they got out of the hotel and Harry was on the road with them.

It was easier said than done, of course.

After having an grueling workout, the three of them went home to a nice homecooked meal by Zayn, and Harry just pulling up in the drive after seeing his sister off at the airport. "I'm exhausted!" Niall flopped onto the couch, nearly upending Liam's plate.

"So take a nap, jesus." Louis said.

"Let's have a dance party." Zayn said.

The room gaped at him. "We're eating." Harry said. "Not dance time."

Zayn dropped the issue for a bit, and they all ate. Harry cleaned up all the dishes and packaged up the little bit of leftovers, and then Zayn was cueing up a playlist from the speakers that had only been used when they watched Jaws two weeks ago. "Aruba, Jamaica, oh I want to take ya. Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama." Zayn started singing the Beach Boys, and Liam joined into the harmony.

Both of them could hit really high notes, so Louis had to come in with some mellow tones to balance it out, and then Niall matched Louis, and Harry came in between the two groups, rounding out the group of singers. "Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go..." The song was over, and then Teenage Dirtbag came on, which was one of Louis' personal favorites.

"Her name is Noelle." Harry started them off, and the rest of them jumped in a moment later, singing and dancing around the room. After a while, they even started cleaning while they did so, since there were only a couple of days left in that house for them.

"Man, I feel like mold. It's prom night and I am lonely." The others let Louis take this section of the song, since he was the only one with enough breath to continue. He did wonderfully at his little solo, and Harry clapped before continuing to sing.

Then some other songs came on, and the night was a blur of singing and dancing and worries lost to the wind. Zayn and Liam screamed songs at each other, and Harry sang Liam's ear off at one point. Niall tried to hit a particular high note and almost died, and Louis sounded heavenly singing How To Save A Life, by The Fray, one of his favorites.

When morning came, all of the boys were asleep near the couch, after falling asleep to another Toy Story marathon. Louis was curled up on one portion of the couch, Harry half-on the back portion and half-off. Zayn was stretched out until he met Louis at the end of the couch, and Niall was asleep above his head. Liam was asleep on the ground, with his asleep head stretched back over the edge of the couch.

It was memorable.


	20. Chapter 20

~Baby, you're perfect (x2)

So let's start right now~

 

 

It had almost been an entire month since the group had met up in the conference room at Simon's business. This was the last meeting with him before they left in a couple day, and it felt a little bittersweet. Most likely due to the fact that Niall got everyone coffee and donuts again.

"Thanks!" Louis said, sliding the box over to his seat at the end. Harry made him push the box back after a bit, and as he slid the box to Liam, he noticed the way that Zayn was looking at the now heavy-muscled jock in admiration. Or lust. Most likely lust.

Simon cleared his throat once all of the boys had found a seat. "We need to discuss what happens once you all reach the parking garage with the money. Today is the day when we finally make plans for that, so I can buy you all plane tickets as my parting gift." Everyone nodded. "The plan is, each of you need to split up after the heist, so that you aren't all found together if something does occur. So, where is everyone going?"

"Home." Louis said. "I know the risks if they find my identity, blah blah blah, but I'm going home for Christmas."

"Understandable, Louis." Simon wrote that down in a little notepad, and then turned to the rest of the group.

"I would like to go home as well. To Cheshire?" Harry asked. "Because of the whole thing with my sister, and I haven't seen my mum in a very long time."

"Done." Simon smiled at him.

"I'm going to the Bahamas. I'm spending Christmas in the sun." Zayn said, nodding at Simon.

"Can I go to the capital?" Liam asked. "I've always wanted to go there, and there's a lot of great history there and stuff."

"That leaves you Niall. Want to go back to New Jersey? Just say the word." Simon's pen was poised above his notepad.

"Chicago, please." Niall said. "It's close to my family, but I won't go visit them because me mum will turn me in."

"I'll give you those plane tickets when I see you at the airport on Saturday morning." Simon said. "I'm going to need two of you to bring back the two bags full of cash to me."

"I've got it." Louis offered.

"Me as well." Zayn said. "And I've better buy a swimsuit because the beach sounds amazing after this dreary weather."

Simon talked more specifics for a couple minutes, and then he concluded the meeting by saying, "Wait at least a couple weeks before you start spending the money in excess. Each of you can take one bundle of cash with you on the plane to your location, and then if you call me and give me your address, I'll mail your cut to you. And please, wait a while before hanging out again. I know you are all pretty close now, but I hate for something to happen. Just...be careful guys." Their boss smiled at them finally. "Now go get me my money."

\---

"I'm actually quite terrified." Zayn announced when they were in the car.

"Well, I'm quite hungry." Niall reciprocated. "Louis ate all the donuts, even if Harry told him not too."

"I'm a growing lad." Louis said from the passenger seat, since Liam was driving.

"You ain't growing anymore." Liam chuckled, and Louis mock-strangled him in rage.

"Gemma landed okay. She just didn't text me last night because she was exhausted and a bit sickly." Louis turned around and kissed Harry's knee through the pants.

"I get that you're in the honeymoon phase." Zayn laughed. "But stop it. You're killing us. Even Niall's barfing by now."

"Right after I live tweet it." He smirked.

"But guys! Seriously! I'm freaking out!" Zayn said. "How are we supposed to just rob a bank?"

"It's easy, Zayn." Louis said, doing a bad job at comforting him. "Once we're there, it will just seem like everything we practiced."

"What if I get really wasted that night?"

"We won't let you." Liam told him from the driver's seat. "We're a team now. We're here to see each other succeed. And we won't let each other down. Unless we want to get killed by Simon."

"Yeah, that's the only bad thing that could come out of this." Niall smiled, ever the happy-go-lucky mate.

Zayn just hoped that they were right.


	21. Chapter 21

~And if you like cameras flashing every time we go out (Oh, yeah)

And if you're looking for someone to write your breakup songs about~

 

 

Niall was a hermit that day, under his covers with his fake lock, repeatedly picking the safe open. Zayn was extremely confident in his hacking skills now that he had broken down the first couple walls of the system. Harry was studying the car manual that he was to get from the parking lot of the hotel, and Liam was napping, while Louis was cleaning up the house.

"I'm ready." Niall said finally. "I can do this in ten minutes. That's the lowest I've gotten it."

"That's really good. Last safecracker I worked with took twenty minutes to even get his gear out."

"I'm a professional, Tommo." Niall said, putting on a Blue Steel-esque look with the blanket on his head. Louis cackled and threw a wet towel at Niall, which, when he screamed and pushed it away, fell onto Liam's napping face.

"I hate all of you." He sighed, throwing the towel onto the floor. "Please tell me that you didn't use that to dry the floor after you mopped."

Louis didn't reply, and Liam gagged, running to the bathroom to wash his face. Everyone chuckled, and Louis threw the towel in the wash. "I'm gettin' tired, lads. What do we say we order a pizza? Have a movie marathon?"

"I love you, Daddy Louis." Harry beamed up at him.

"Don't call him daddy ever again." Zayn gagged from his corner of the room. "Or I may actually barf."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What movies?"

"Harry Potter. I get to pick since I just got a wet towel thrown on my face."

"Liam, get over yourself. Niall threw it on you, not me. I threw it on Niall, yes, but Niall's really the one to blame here." Liam threw a wet washcloth at Louis from the bathroom. "I will buy a Hawaiian pizza, Liam, if you don't watch your actions."

"Gross." Zayn scoffed.

\---

The day prior, Louis had bought himself a bean bag chair to sit on so they weren't all crowded on the couch, and now Harry was sitting on it with Louis on his lap while they watched the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Zayn was in and out of sleep, and Niall was on his phone and looking at memes as usual. Louis was actually asleep, while Harry was just snuggled up to him, watching the movie. And Liam was enraptured by the movie he had seen a billion and one times.

The pizza was long gone, as was the wings, and it was getting pretty late.

"I want to play a game." Louis woke up saying.

"Uno." Niall told them. "Zayn, go get it, it's in the hall closet." Zayn was just waking up, and he took his blanket with him to go find it.

He turned on the hall light, and not the closet one, as his eyes were still tender from sleep. He patted the mostly empty shelves, feeling for the box. "Aha." He held it up, and then suddenly, Liam was standing in front of him, shutting the door and leaving the two of them in the darkness.

"Excuse me, this is not the bathroom, this is a closet." Zayn said, rubbing his eyes. "I would like to leave now."

Liam put his lips on Zayn's, startling the just smaller boy. "Wha-?" Zayn mumbled.

"Don't." Liam whispered.

Zayn's blanket fell to the floor, and he wrapped his arms around Liam's neck, plunging his hands into his short hair. Liam tugged on Zayn's bottom lip, and Zayn lost control there, wrapping his legs around Liam's waist. Liam pushed him into the wall, and things on the shelf fell. Zayn took off Liam's shirt, running his hands over the abs there.

And as quickly as it started, it was over.

Liam pushed Zayn to the floor, and he knocked his head on a shelf, crying out. He grabbed his shirt, and left Zayn there.

After a moment, Zayn started crying, because his head really hurt, and his emotions were a wreck. How could Liam do something like this to him? He was fine with Liam being straight - he had stopped acting like he was the week before after Liam confessed how he felt. But obviously, there was something there for Liam. But Zayn didn't want to be around him while he figured it out if this was how he was going to act.

Zayn opened the closet door and slid the cards down the hall. Niall's hand reached out and snatched them, and Liam made brief eye contact with Zayn before he shut the door again.

Zayn slept in the closet that night, too afraid to see Liam again. Ever again.

He wished he could just run away, but there were only a couple more days.

Then maybe there would be some cute boy in the Bahamas who would make Zayn forget everything.

He could only hope.


	22. Chapter 22

~Baby, I'm perfect,

Baby, we're perfect~

 

 

Harry and Liam were out the next morning at the gym, when Niall was laying on the couch, looking sad. Zayn was also looking particularly mopey. "What is it, guys?"

"Liam is straight." Zayn sighed.

"My phone won't download Tinder." Niall sighed.

Louis walked over to him, and handed him his own phone. "Use my phone for now. Zayn can fix your phone."

"Do you actually have Grindr?" Niall asked, a bit disgusted.

"I also have Candy Crush. Level 47." Louis looked so proud of himself, and no one laughed at his joke. Louis was an odd breed - he got mad when no one laughed at his jokes, but he also got mad when they did laugh at something stupid that he said and it wasn't an educated joke. Especially if he just said, "Carrots.", or something, and Zayn suddenly couldn't breathe from dying of laughter.

"Alright." Niall downloaded the app, and then went to work setting up an account while Louis watched on. "What should my bio be?" He asked.

"Do you have a fake name?" Louis wondered aloud. "You must have one if you're on the run. Or is Niall your fake name?"

"I go by Neil. Or Noel." He put Neil into the app as his name. "Bio?"

"Noel. 22 years old. Message me if you like..."

"Food." Niall said dreamily.

"A certain type of food?"

"Nandos." Niall said.

"What's Nandos?" Zayn asked.

Louis, being from the UK, understood the reference to the chain restaurant, and almost wanted to strangle the American in the room. "Don't do Nandos. Americans won't understand."

"I like Mexican food, I guess."

"Message me if you like tacos, then." The door opened then, and Harry and Liam came in, laughing and talking, with a bag from the dollar store. They had gotten a bunch of popsicles.

"What are we up to?" Harry asked, eyeing Zayn, who threw a blanket over his head and laptop, so that he couldn't see Liam, who was looking over at him discreetly.

"Niall is signing up for Tinder on my phone." Louis told his boyfriend.

After a couple minutes, Louis was debating girls with Niall, and soon enough there was a match. "What do I say? She's hot, Louis!"

"So am I, but you don't hear Louis talking about it every three seconds." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Do you want me to or something?" Louis asked. Harry nodded, and Louis shook his head, smiling the whole time. "Okay, Niall. Quote a movie. If she's too dumb to get it, she's not worth it."

"I want to quote the Spongebob movie." Niall said.

"Why in the world?" Harry turned to Niall from his spot in the kitchen where he was making tea.

"Because her name is Karen." Niall said, with a straight face. He snatched the phone from Louis, sending the message Karen, baby, I haven't felt this giddy since the day you agreed to be my wife.

Collectively, everyone sighed around the room.

\---

After a while, Niall had lost interest in simply finding a nice date, but instead swiped right on everyone so that he could get matches easier and make references to every movie he had ever seen - especially old westerns that no one else heard of. And everyone knew when he made another match because he would laugh evilly and look to the massive whiteboard that they had recently cleaned off, that now held a long list of movies on it.

"Do you think that we should have a cool name?" Harry finally asked, looking up from the crossword puzzle he was doing. "Like Banksy or something."

"Banksy doesn't rob banks, he does graffiti! He's an artist. I admire him." Zayn gave that speech from under his little fort, as he had been for the last couple of hours.

"Or like NSYNC or summat like that." Louis responded.

"Yeah." Harry gestured him to continue.

The rest of them thought hard - Liam was too busy watching the movie on the T.V. to care. "Niall and the Potatoes." Niall said, being completely serious.

Zayn put on a fake announcers voice. "Who has been robbing all of these banks? Niall and the Potatoes! It sucks, Niall. It doesn't flow."

Harry moved to sit on his knees. "This is hard."

The room was quiet. Niall got up, doing his little evil laugh and crossing Braveheart off the list. "The Wiggles." Liam yawned. "Oh, nevermind."

"One Direction." Harry said.

"What's the significance of that?" Louis asks, grabbing a soccer ball, kicking it softly around the room.

"I dunno. I just thought it sounded cool." Harry said, blushing and hiding behind his hands.

Zayn huffed from under his fort. "It does sound cool. I'll try making some logos. See how they look. If not, we'll come up with something better."

"Sounds like a dumb boy band name." Liam scoffed. "But whatever. One Direction it is."

Louis screamed goal as he kicked the ball, but instead of it going under Zayn's desk, it hit his chair hard, and bounced up onto the window, breaking it. Niall screamed, and so did Louis.

"Don't tell Simon!"


	23. Chapter 23

~If you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms~

 

 

Zayn took a deep breath. "So, this is it."

The lot of them glanced around the empty space, although it wasn't completely empty. It just looked like they were going out for the day, but a lot more neat than it had been. The computers were gone. The dishes and food was gone. All of the shoes and dirty socks and sweaters - gone. And it smelled like Pledge. The lemon one.

"Adieu." Louis said, smiling. "Until next time, old buddy." He patted the door, and then shut it behind them as they piled out.

"Did you stay here for your last mission? Or your first one? Whatever?" Niall asked him.

Louis smiled up at Niall. "Yeah. My history goes pretty far back with this place."

The group walked down the steps, down to Louis' car, which was full of the computers as well as all of their bags. It was around four in the afternoon, and the group was headed to Louis' for the night before they headed out in the morning for Vegas. They were ready. In the physical sense at least.

The weapons had arrived in Vegas - and the suits were packed. So was all of the gear, as well as their clothes, and all of their carry on items. And of the lot, Zayn was the only one who had never flown before, and was terrified. He was scared of heights. It was funny because they expected Liam to be the one to have never flown. Because he was poor. But he had gone to Disneyland as a teen with his family.

Louis had still never had the pleasure to do so, neither had Niall or Zayn, but he hoped to take his baby girl when she was old enough. They would experience it for the first time together.

Man, he wanted to show her the world.

And, looking at Harry in the passenger seat, he realized that he wanted him right beside him the whole time.

\---

"I don't want to watch this." Zayn complained, still upset since Louis wouldn't give him the wifi password, and he had to sleep on the couch.

The movie was Toy Story, and Liam had chosen it. Just as Liam chose everything.

"Shhh." Niall said to Zayn, opening a package of marshmallows. Harry had bought items to roast s'mores over the stove tonight, as their last hoorah.

"Guys, I'm still terrified. Now that I remember that we're flying, especially." Zayn looked like he was having a panic attack, and Mama Styles went to comfort him real quick.

Harry sat on his knees in front of the couch. "We have you in an aisle seat. Niall has the window seat, and then Liam has the middle seat."

"I don't want to sit next to Liam!" Zayn exclaimed. "He is only going to rev up my anxiety."

Louis shrugged. "Unless you want to sit crowded in the middle and take my seat, sitting next to the ever-doting Harry, be my guest."

Zayn pouted for a couple minutes. "Can Niall and Liam switch?" He looked over at Niall.

"Niall does not like middle seats. Niall does not want to puke." Niall started talking about himself in the third person there, to get off the subject of switching seats. Zayn was just going to have to deal with it.

"S'mores!" Harry remembered, heading over to the kitchen to make himself one. The others came in as well, turning on all the burners to light their marshmallows on the end of their forks, since that was the only utensil that they had.

"If I forget to tell you guys this, Merry Christmas." Louis said, smiling.

"And Happy Birthday, you know, since your birthday is on Christmas Eve." Niall smiled, ever the stalker.

"We have all of each other's phone numbers, right?" They all murmured that yes they did - Zayn had almost deleted Liam's after the encounter in the closet, and he had almost taken out Niall's when he kept sending him Youtube links to videos at three a.m., but yes, he did still have them all.

"You've got a friend in me." Liam started singing after he finished his s'more. Louis and Harry both fonded over how cute he was.

"Oh, my larents are such larents." Niall said, which sounded like crazy talk to anyone but Captain Niall over there.

Zayn took a whole Hershey bar and put it on his s'more, making direct eye contact with Louis the whole time, which was very unnerving for both sides. It also made Zayn's s'more very uneven, as there was two small graham crackers, a small marshmallow, and then a whole chocolate bar. But Zayn didn't care, because, as usual, he was eating out his emotions.

"Maybe you want to chill?" Niall said to him with a chuckle.

Zayn smiled a fake smile. "You only live once, Niall. So live a little."

Niall smiled back at him. "I am." He paused then, debating if what he wanted to say next was going to be too hurtful or not. But he went for it anyways. "I'm living the best life. Broke out of prison, on the run for the rest of my life, going to rob a bank and become rich, and I'm on Tinder now, so that's fun. Louis didn't know if Harry would like him or not, but he shot his shot and got out there, and now they're the cutest couple ever. So what are you waiting for, Zayn? You're the one who's not living."

Zayn looked down at the burners, shutting the last one off. "I tried, Niall. But you have to know when to put your walls up, and when to take them down. And they're up, Niall. Liam's not for me."

Zayn walked into the living room with his giant s'more then, hoping that he could at least fake it until he made it.


	24. Chapter 24

~And if you like having secret little rendezvous~

 

 

"I am definitely going to need iced coffee for this." Niall said, hands itching for the drinks Louis was bringing them. Most of them were freshly showered, due to Harry's insistent, and it was just Zayn who didn't, as he showered in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep.

Zayn was still freaking out, and had everything he could possibly need for this trip. Gum for his ears, as well as earplugs. A blanket in his carry on, and he had a fancy neck pillow, as well as snacks. Also, his laptop, even though he wouldn't be connected to wifi. He had some pdfs downloaded of books, as well as some other things to do.

Louis knew that he would be talking with Harry most of the flight, but he also had a book. Liam was going to rent a tablet to watch a movie, and Niall had some magazines to read, and some sleep to come catch up on. Harry also planned to sleep, or stare into his boyfriend's dreamy blue eyes. God, he was whipped. How had he come so far? From the shy boy who shunned all the group's attempts to make friends, to the guy who was dating one member of that said group, and was best friends with the rest? He was mystified.

Louis bought them all coffee this time - for their last moments as a group in New York. Maybe forever, but who knows what the future had in store for them? "Here, here." He grumbled, getting into the passenger seat. Liam was driving again, but Harry had pleaded to do it as well. Louis had denied him that privilege, mostly because Harry was a getaway driver. Not a city driver.

Zayn threw his arms around Louis, not taking his coffee yet. "Don't make me go, Louis." He fake cried.

"Drama queen, drama queen." Louis shook his head before he realized that the fake crying was very close to becoming not fake. "Zayn, calm down, okay? Do you want some sleeping pills for the plane or something?"

"That would be nice. I feel like I am going to puke. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no."

"Liam, do not pull this car over, no matter what noises you hear back here!" Niall screamed, while laughing desperately. He sounded like a dying hyena. Or maybe just a regular hyena, since they sound really screechy, and that was how Niall sounded.

"Zayn, it'll be fine." Louis assured him confidently. Zayn shook his head. "I'll tell a story to take your mind off of everything. How about I tell you all the story of my first mission?"

"Yes!" Niall declared. Louis had been skimpy on the details of how exactly his mission went.

Louis cleared his throat, and then began, his hands fidgeting in his lap. No smoking on the plane was going to be agony for him. "So, Simon picked me up, yada yada yada, and I trained at his gym for a couple months, mostly as a getaway driver, but I was eager to get out there, get some cash, help my mom, etc, so he put me with this team, who was already really good friends with each other. I was an outsider, and none of them laughed at my jokes, etc. But, I was bound to hold up my part of the deal. It was in North Carolina." Louis stopped there, not wanting to continue.

Harry had heard the story before, and turned around in his seat. "You don't have to, Louis."

Louis turned to the window. "Does anyone else have any other stories? I forgot how sad that one is."

Niall sipped his iced coffee, knowing that this was not the right moment to spill the tea about Louis' mission. "Can we sing instead? I would much rather listen to some jams."

Liam turned the radio on, and Harry returned to his facing forward position. Zayn lost himself in a couple of songs, and Louis was dead silent.

When they got to the airport, Louis was the one who showed the lady all of their tickets, and they put their bags up on the scale. Louis had to put some of his things into Harry's bag, embarrassingly enough. And Niall, along with the rest of them, had to throw his coffee away before they went through security. "My baby." He fake cried, throwing him in the trash.

"We can get some when we land. Now remember. We start this game now." Liam told Niall. "You're the bachelor getting married, and we're the groomsmen."

"I call Best Man." Louis smirked at Liam, who pouted.

"Can I be the Maid of Honor?" Harry asked, and his boyfriend shot him a sly grin.

Zayn was ready to explode. "Can we go through security yet?"

On the other side, Harry bought Zayn some sleeping pills, and by the time they walked onto the plane, he was dead on his feet. Harry buckled him up, tucked his blanket around him, put his neck pillow on right, and most importantly, stowed his carry on under his seat. Zayn was snoring before everyone had finished boarding.

Louis slyly smiled at Harry, who couldn't stuff his legs into his assigned seat, and had to stick one leg out into the aisle. "Oh, Hazza." He sighed.

"Oh, Boo Bear." Harry said right back.

Liam sat calmly, talking with Niall, and soon the plane was in the air. During one jostle as they rose up, Zayn was jostled, and him and his neck pillow fell onto Liam.

Liam didn't move him until three hours later when Niall noticed.


	25. Chapter 25

~If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do~

 

 

Liam was the only one who woke up early enough the next day to eat some of the complimentary breakfast that was down near the lobby. He left a yogurt in Zayn's room - all of the boys had keys to each other's rooms, and some muffins in Louis', therefore Harry's, room, and he left Niall a banana.

Around one, Louis and Harry went to the address that Simon had left them, to get the guns. "I thought that the hotel was going to have metal detectors." Harry huffed and puffed.

"It does. Zayn'll take 'em down for us them in three, two, one -" A little green light was suddenly present over the doors, replacing the red one from a moment ago. "Disarmed." Louis walked into the hotel with his duffel bag, went up the stairs - Harry trailing along.

The afternoon before, Niall had to be the one to complain to the front desk about their rooms being separated. Unfortunately, it was a problem that could not be fixed - which was actually part of their plan. Zayn needed the room that he got on the seventh floor - it was above the security room on the ground level. The other four rooms were on the eighteenth floor. Zayn woke up as they pushed him into a cab, and he slept through the evening yesterday. Niall watched him until he woke up, and then he was on his computer for a while before deciding on another short nap before he had to be up.

Then him and Niall watched movies while Louis and Harry were out, until Zayn had to override the metal detectors for a minute. "Good morning!" Harry said, coming into Zayn's room. Louis dumped the bag of guns of the floor. "Where's Liam?"

"Flirting down in the casino." Niall said.

"That man cannot figure out what he wants." Zayn shook his head.

"Like most millennial straight guys, he needs to be told what he wants. So tell him. Finally." Harry looked at Zayn after quoting Riverdale, and no one in the room responded. "That's from Riverdale, you scum, but the advice still stands, Zayn."

"I'm not going to force someone into liking me. Or being gay. Or labeling themselves. I'm just going to do whatever makes me happy." Zayn smiled.

Louis was apprehensive. "Does that involve getting back with your math teacher?"

"God, no. He was fired and hates me." Zayn told the room. "Still sexy as hell though."

"One minute I think you have good morals and beliefs and then I realize that you're in love with a math teacher from MIT."

"He works at a high school now. Still hot." Zayn said. "And, I'm not in love with him!"

"I am taking a nap before the party tonight. And Zayn, well everyone, I advise not picking anyone up tonight. We start this show at seven on the dot." Louis walked out the room, shutting the door. He wasn't scared. Not one bit.

But everyone else?

That's up for debate.

\---

"You're a scoundrel." Zayn said, laughing at Liam. Zayn was a little bit drunk, and Liam was completely sober, and there were half-dressed girls everywhere. There was a VIP strip club that Zayn had gotten him and Liam into by flirting with a cute bartender. The others were still at the casino.

Liam was feeding off of the energy in the room, and Zayn, after a while, grew very quiet. "I am in love with you." Okay, maybe he was very drunk. Which was not supposed to happen.

"No, you're not, little bean." Liam told him.

"You're a bean! LIMA BEAN!" Zayn cackled, falling over himself into Liam's lap. "Dance with me, Lima."

"No, little bean." Liam told him. He watched Zayn's every move, as he danced on other girls and guys in the crowd. The hairs on his arms stood up, and he ran through the crowd a second later to stop him from doing body shots off of some girl. "Come on. I think it's time for bed." He told the drunk man.

"I'm not an infant." Zayn said. "I am an adult."

"Who's drunk out of his mind! Louis is going to be pissed!"

"Who cares what Louis thinks?" Zayn said. "I'm having fun. Forgetting about my worries. I came here to forget someone."

"Was it me?" Liam asked brazenly.

"Hmmm?" Zayn said, dancing on Liam.

"Did you come here to forget me, little bean?"

There was a long pause, in which Liam became very away of his flirtatious vibes by calling Zayn a little bean. But he couldn't help himself. It was the only way that he could describe Zayn tonight. 

"Did you come here to stop me?" Zayn said, with a grin on his face. "Because that's the only reason that I can see why you've been following me all night."

"It was too make sure that you didn't drink too much, but I see that I didn't do my job." Liam looked down, knowing that if he talked to Zayn for one second longer, he'd end up doing something that he might regret.

"Liam." Zayn said, trying to pull Liam's head down for a kiss. Liam put his hand over Zayn's mouth, and Zayn licked it. "Kiss?"

"It's bedtime, little bean." Liam said simply, throwing Zayn over his shoulder. "And am I glad you won't remember this tomorrow."


	26. Chapter 26

~Baby, I'm perfect~

 

 

"You look dapper." Louis said to Niall, who was putting on his bowtie. All of them were wearing suits, except for Zayn, who didn't need it. He was hungover, and Liam refused to even look in his direction.

"You won't let us down, right?" Harry asked Zayn, shaking him in his sleep.

"No, Harry! I am good!" Zayn mumbled. "You have the walkies, right?"

"Yes." Liam confirmed. "They are active. Just don't fall back asleep, okay, lit-" Liam stopped talking abruptly. "I'm ready."

"I'm going to get the car." Harry looked at his watch. 6:55. "Bye." He waved at all of them, and then left.

Zayn sat up and looked at the others. Their bags were on the floor of the room - it was Zayn's responsibility to get them into the car after they left, and check out for the rest of them. He had to maintain their alibi of being hungover.

Louis looked through his backpack. The rope. His harness. A pistol. His breakfast. Something else. His mask. He was ready.

Niall was tense, but ready.

Liam was ready, too, although he looked like he wanted to speak, but he didn't. A couple minutes later, he was the last to leave the room. "Bye, little bean." He smiled, shutting the door.

Zayn whipped around, but Liam was gone.

\---

Zayn turned off the cameras the second that the three of them set foot onto the second floor. The next thing he did was set off six slot machines at once with jackpots - he had picked them the night before. The security guards in front of the metal door that the group needed to get through went to check it out, giving Louis and the others the time they needed to slip through the door. Simon was the one who got them the pass that they needed to get through it.

Liam led the way down the stairs, after pulling his gun out. "Keep it hidden." Louis warned him.

"Masks." Niall said, and the three of them put the masks on, now turning down a long hallway.

"It's seven in the morning. No one is here yet." Niall said. "And it's Monday."

"Try not to talk." Louis said. Liam's training kicked in, and he began checking offices as they passed them - heading to the conference room at the end.

The door was open. Liam hid on the inside of the door, and Louis headed to one end of the room, while Niall headed to the other. Near the floor on each side was two air vents. The two of them had the grates down in twenty seconds, and then they nodded at each other - jumping in head-first.

Louis was terrified that he was going to bump into someone, or that an alarm was going to go off - but Zayn had come through. The systems were down. "Tying your rope, Louis." Liam said through the walkie, securing the rope that Louis would climb up after they were done here.

Niall was already getting to work, looking completely at ease. "Car's set." Harry said. "Zayn, come on."

"Checking out now." Zayn said. "Boys, what's the status?"

"We're in. Not in the safe, but we're in the room." Louis filled him in, taking his breakfast out of his bag to eat while Niall cracked the safe.

"Niall, where's your rope?" Liam asked.

Niall started cursing, getting distracted. "I didn't set it."

"I swear to god, Niall!" Louis screamed, and Niall flinched. "It's fine. I'll fix this." He clicked the button on his walkie talkie. "I'm coming up to give you his rope, Liam."


	27. Chapter 27

~Baby, I'm perfect for you~

 

 

"Niall's rope is set. Thanks, Louis." Louis was now back to eating his yogurt on the floor of the walkway to the safe. Harry was helping Zayn get the bags in the car, from the update a minute ago, it sounded like. Liam was keeping watch.

"You seem really unhelpful." Niall told him.

"Crack the safe already. I'm eager to get home and see my family." Louis laughed. "Oh, I forgot." He looked around, picking out a wall, and he pulled out the spray paint.

"What are you doing?" Liam asked, as he heard sounds of rattling when Louis accidentally pushed down his button.

"Shaking a can of soda." Louis lied, spraying the wall. "Niall, focus."

"It's hard. What are you doing?"

"Spraying some concept art that Zayn made. You can see when you crack the safe." A minute later, Louis was done, and there was a loud creak as the safe opened. Niall looked over at his art, seeing the 1D on the wall, and he shook his head.

"Let's get this cash."

"Guys, we're in." Louis said, taking out his folded up duffel bag.

"We're gonna get caught." Zayn was hyperventilating.

"Okay, you're right on schedule." Harry said.

"Almost ready, Liam." Louis said, and there was no reply. "Liam, you good? Harry, Liam's not responding."

Louis began stuffing money in his bag, and he heard the calls for Liam. "I'm coming in." Harry said suddenly, and Louis didn't have a minute to question anything.

"I'm full." Niall said, zipping up his bag. He helped Louis fill his, and then they shut the safe, put all of his supplies in the bag, and then they began to climb.

"Zayn distracted the guards. They'll be occupied for five minutes at the most." Harry said. "Get to the elevators as soon as you get out. I've got Liam."

Neither of them could respond, but they both wondered what happened to Liam.

It was a lot harder than they thought it would be. Louis wore his duffel bag like a backpack, and he could feel the rough rope through his gloves. "At the top, Louis." Niall said, from the top of his grate.

He pulled Louis up, and then cleaned up the rope for the both of them. Then, they ran. Liam was gone, Louis ran in front of Niall with a gun protectively. "Hey!" Someone yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Louis threw his gun at him, which knocked the guard out, and then the alarm was going off.

Harry was on the walkie talkie then, screaming. "The car's gone! I left Zayn and the car, and now both of them are gone."

"I'm trying to call the elevator for them!" Zayn screamed. They burst out of the doors, heading straight for the elevator. "They're towing the car. I have the tickets, but nothing else. I'm calling Simon now to reclaim it! Harry, boost something!" Niall repeatedly hit the close doors button as the guards ran towards them, raising the doors. "Service elevator opening now!"

The back elevator opened, leading them down the back and outside, to where Harry, carrying Liam like he was giving him a piggyback ride, was trying to silence a car that was going off. "Shush!" He screamed.

"Where's Zayn?" Niall screamed, running across the parking lot. Harry opened the trunk, and the two of them deposited the duffle bags there before shutting it. Louis put Liam in the backseat, searching him for wounds.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I found him collapsed in the conference room. Zayn helped me get in."

"Where is Zayn?" Niall yelled, as Harry started the car and pulled up. "They know what happened. They'll figure out where we are soon!" Louis put Liam's seatbelt on, making sure that he was breathing and his heart was pumping.

"There!" Harry yelled, pointing to Zayn, who was running across the parking lot, blood streaming down his face. "Louis, door!" Harry sped up to meet Zayn, and Louis threw open the door to pull him in.

"What happened?" Niall screamed, as Zayn shut the door and buckled up.

"Harry needed a diversion to get Liam and to get a security guard. So, I tripped, and I took down a waitress and I hit my head on a glass and a slot machine. Is my beautiful face marred?" Harry had been listening to Zayn's story, and trying to calm down, when the sound of sirens filled the air.

"Hazza, drive!"


	28. Chapter 28

~And if you like midnight driving with the windows down~

 

 

"What happened to Liam?" Zayn asked all of a sudden, panicking.

"We don't know." Louis said. "Harry, put a mask on. The camera's are gonna get you." Niall helped get Harry's mask on. "He's breathing, though. Heart's beating."

"Get his mask off." Zayn said, reaching across Louis to get the mask off.

"I want to go home!" Niall screamed as Harry turned a corner violently and sped up an alley.

"Simon said that he'll get the car. Oh look, he's calling now!" Zayn put his phone on speakerphone.

"Status."

"We got the money. Duffel bags are full. Left no equipment. Liam's unconscious for an unknown medical reason. He most likely needs medical attention, and we are currently evading police." Louis filled him in.

"What model is the car that you're in? I'll try to find decoys."

Niall dug through the glovebox. "Subaru WRX. The color is white."

"Thank god it's not red." Simon said. "Hanging up now."

"Does anyone have any smelling salts?" Zayn asked desperately.

"Water." Liam croaked out. Everyone started searching the car for a bottle, but there was none. Louis' heart was beating so fast he thought that he was going to die, and then Niall turned on the radio.

Do you remember?

"Turn it off!" Zayn screamed.

The twenty-first night of September.

"Please, Niall." Niall turned the radio off, and Liam started coughing.

"I need a doctor." Liam said. Louis and Niall started freaking out and cursing, while Zayn was the mostly calm one in the car.

"Louis, Niall, you have to take him. When we separate. The plan stays the same, but drive him to Reno and get some help for him." Zayn's voice was shaking. "And Simon texted. He said that the decoys are in place under the bridge. Get in the left lane and double back to the parking garage." 

Harry made a hard right and accelerated to get onto the freeway. "I would appreciate it if no one would engage in a gun battle. We do not have bullet-proof windows, and me and Louis have a date on New Years Eve." Harry was joking, but he sounded serious. He was serious about the date thing.

"That begs the question, when should we all meet up again. Because I don't want to never see you guys again. I know it'll be different now, but when?" Niall brought up the conversation.

"My birthday is February 1st." Harry said. "Anyone want to throw me a party?"

"I'm having a baby girl, and I would love for you to meet her when she's born. I'll set up an email for you to contact me, okay?" Louis said. "It'll be all lowercase, no spaces onedirection5. At gmail.com. Send me an email that's addressed to Tommo, and then we'll be in touch, okay?"

Everyone nodded. "We'll tell Liam later." Niall said.

The helicopters began to follow them, and they ducked down in the back. Liam was back out, and Zayn kept looking at him worriedly. "We'll lose them with the decoys."

The bridge was coming up ahead, and Niall pointed out the decoys. They pulled out, and Harry got in front of the one on the left, switching places with the one in the middle. Then they were pulling out and exiting the freeway. The cops were off their tail, and only a couple minutes later, they pulled into the parking garage.

"Bye, babe." Harry said, kissing Louis. Niall grabbed a duffel bag and put it into their van. There was some supplies in the back. Niall hugged Zayn, and then hugged Harry's leg, since he was attached to Louis.

Louis then put the unconscious Liam in his car. "I love all of you." He said. Zayn looked at Liam, and started crying.

"Take care of him, okay?"

"I promise, Zaynie." Louis saluted him. "I'll see you in New York soon. Bye, Hazza!"

"Bye, boo bear!" Harry got into the other car.

"Bye, Lima." Zayn said, watching Louis drive away.


	29. Chapter 29

~And if you like going places we can't even pronounce~

 

 

When Harry's adrenaline dropped out, Zayn drove the rest of the way to the San Francisco airport. He woke Harry up, handing him his ticket. "I'll see you." He said.

"Of course, Zayn. And, I hope you find some hot sexy guy in the Bahamas who makes you forget all about Liam." Zayn grinned cheekily.

"I'm gonna be dripping in dudes." Zayn said. "I'm hot. Take care, Harry."

Harry grabbed his backpack from the job and walked inside, leaving Zayn to drop off the car. He was really going to miss that guy.

\---

The other three were still in Reno, waiting on Liam to finish up with his dialysis and fluid intake. Then he would be ready to go. Niall slept in the lobby, and Louis slept for a bit too. "Ready?" Liam asked, waking them up.

"I'm driving!" Niall said, racing to the car.

On the radio, they were all talking about the bank robbery at the hotel/casino. The guys who left no trace behind - no fingerprints and no identifying factors. Niall was buzzing to know that was them.

"Four hour drive." Louis sighed. "Then, we'll be free. I need a good night's sleep. But it looks like I'll be on a flight for the next two days. Fly from L.A. to New York. Deliver the money to Simon, and then fly home. I better be flying first class to Yorkshire."

"I really want orange juice, oddly enough."

"We'll stop and get some at a gas station." Liam said, ready to take a nap in the backseat. "Wake me later."

"Same." Louis said.

\---

Zayn got on the plane, after just swallowing some sleeping pills. He had another aisle seat, next to some random guy, and he needed to talk to the flight attendant about waking him up. He was thinking about Liam, and about the money in the duffel bag.

There was an empty seat across the aisle from him, and a couple minutes after Zayn sat down, a hot guy sat down in the seat. What type of fanfiction crap is this, Zayn wondered to himself.

"I'm not late, am I?" He asked, smiling.

Zayn blushed hardcore, looking down. "Of course not. We haven't taken off yet."

The boy seemed flushed, most likely from running to catch the plane, as he was one of the last people off. "What's your name, handsome?"

"You first." Zayn smiled, feeling lightheaded.

"Luke." He smiled. Zayn took in his black hair, the way it curled slightly, like his own did when it was long.

"I like the sound of that." He smiled.

"Then you'll love the sound of my number."

"Give me one sec." Zayn said, standing up and heading to the bathroom. "Drank too much water before the flight." Luke nodded at him with a demure smile, and then Zayn ran into the bathroom, shut the door, and forced himself to puke up the sleeping pills. There was no way he was sleeping on this flight.

\---

"Stop it right now." Louis said to Niall. Liam had already gotten on his flight, and Niall couldn't stop crying now that Louis was boarding soon. "This isn't you. You're not emotional."

"I'm very emotional." Niall complained. "And I love you, Louis. I love all of you guys. I won't have anyone else when I'm out there. I'm on my own. I was on my own before I met you guys. I'll never have that again."

Louis hugged Niall, trying to get him to stop causing a scene. He really had to leave. "Niall, we'll still see you. And you'll be rich in a couple of weeks. You'll come to me and Harry's wedding, be my daughter's godfather, the whole nine yards. Email me, kid. I have got to go!"

"Tell Harry that I'm sorry for using his toothbrush!" Niall yelled, trying to use humor to cover up how lonely he felt as Louis ran off.

He was alone again.

No matter what Louis said, that fact was still the same.

\---

Harry couldn't sleep on the flight, which would stop in New York before heading to England. He wondered if Louis would be there - at the airport, but he knew that he couldn't see him right now.

He wondered if it was healthy - his attachment to someone he had barely met. And he was going to meet his family in a couple of weeks at a New Years party? Harry was scared.

But he was also scared to rob the bank, and look where he was now.

He was invincible now - they all were.


	30. Chapter 30

~If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about,

Baby, you're perfect (x2),

So let's start right now~

 

 

This time, Louis walked with the crowd in early morning traffic, struggling with his heavy backpack full of cash. He was still wearing Adidas, but he was different now. Smoking a little less. Loving a little more. "Zayn!" He called, as he spotted the darker man across the street. He looked a whole lot better than he had yesterday morning.

"Lou!" Zayn called, waiting for his friend on the other side of the crosswalk. "Doing good?" Louis smiled and nodded at Zayn.

"Still tired as a dog, but...i'll sleep when I'm home." Zayn looked in the general direction of the building they had shared for the last month. "I hope I never see that place again." Louis laughed. 

Zayn smiled. "A couple more minutes, and then we'll be free."

The two walked into Simon's building, taking the elevator all the way up to his office. "Here for Simon. Louis and Zayn." The secretary nodded at them, and they sat with their large backpacks.

"Liam's alright." Louis said, surprised that Zayn hadn't asked about him.

Zayn smiled. "That's good."

"Are you good? One plane ride without Liam was enough to make you forget him?"

"There was a really hot guy on the flight. And I may have joined the mile high club."

"Zayn Malik, you absolute argh!" Louis was full of so many emotions at once. "That's illegal!"

"Only if you get caught. And we didn't." Zayn looked so happy. "He's so hot. And he's funny. Definitely my type. I got his number. And his instagram."

"And Liam?"

"Who's Liam?" Zayn laughed.

Simon's door opened, and Louis stood up, motioning for Zayn to follow him. "Well, you didn't completely screw up, and it looks like there's a lot of cash here."

"Yeah, sorry about all the stuff we did mess up. Liam's okay, though. We took him to the hospital, got him checked out, and I spoke to some of the flight attendants, told them to watch him and stuff."

"Good, good. Well, Louis. This is it. No more jobs?"

"Yes, Simon. I'm out."

Simon nodded. "And Zayn, you're free too. And it's your choice to pick up the phone if I need you again."

"I'll hold you to that, Simon." Zayn shook Simon's hand. "Thanks for everything. I've got a flight to catch, but, bye Louis!"

Louis and Simon were alone now, and it was clear that both of them had more to say. "Thanks." Simon said simply. "You're an amazing man, Louis. If I build a branch in the UK, I'll hire you as a secretary or something." Louis rolled his eyes. "If you want to use me as a job reference, go ahead. And, I'll send a little present for your daughter. Expect your money soon, Louis."

"Yeah. Thanks for everything, Simon. Even if it didn't all go as planned." Louis went to the door, and gripped the frame. Then he went back and shook Simon's hand. "I don't care what they say. You're a good man, no matter what you've done or how you've done it."

As Louis disappeared out the door, Simon called out, "I hope I never see you again!"

"Same goes for you, Simon!"

And thus Louis Tomlinson walked out of that office, headed towards the rest of his life. One that he was sure was going to be Perfect.


End file.
